Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is a high-value target for hackers and foreign spy agencies - not only because of its military secrets, but also due to its IT-supported weapons systems. If hackers were ever to gain control of them, the results could be devastating.

In the first nine weeks of this year alone, the Bundeswehr's network was attacked some 284,000 times. The Bundeswehr has also been affected by targeted disinformation campaigns online. Thus, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen from the ruling Christian Democrats views attacks from cyberspace as, "a growing threat to our security."

Read: How Germany's foreign intelligence agency recruits young hackers

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Future cyber attacks are to be fended off by the new "Cyber and Information Space Command" (CIR), which will become operational on April 1. The command will have its own independent organizational structure, thus becoming the sixth branch of the German military – on a par with the army, navy, air force, joint medical service and joint support service. Although other countries, such as the USA, set up cyber commands long ago, the Bundeswehr now sees itself "at the international forefront."

Eventually, 13,500 German soldiers and civilian contractors currently dealing with cyber defense from a number of different locations will be brought together under the CIR's roof. The Bundeswehr is also desperately seeking IT specialists in the labor market. It is currently running elaborate advertising campaigns in order to pitch the army as an attractive and modern IT employer – not exactly the Bundeswehr's trademark to date.

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Germany's NATO missions Germany's role in NATO West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.

Germany's NATO missions Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.

Germany's NATO missions Keeping the peace in Kosovo Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.

Germany's NATO missions Patrolling the Aegean Sea In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Germany's NATO missions More than a decade in Afghanistan In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Nearly a thousand soldiers are still deployed in Afghanistan as part of Resolute Support.

Germany's NATO missions German tanks in Lithuania Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania so far in 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defence in a generation," according to NATO.

Germany's NATO missions Taking over the leadership The Bundeswehr is due to take over leadership of NATO's multinational Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) at the start of 2019. The rapid reaction force has been set up to counter potential Russian aggression on the alliance's eastern flank. Author: Lewis Sanders IV



Can the Bundeswehr keep up the pace?

In the past, the fast pace of hardware and software innovation has proven incompatible with the protracted tempo of the Bundeswehr's procurement process. IT specialists are in unanimous agreement: the Bundeswehr must become much more flexible in the future. The cyber command's first inspector, Air Force General Ludwig Leinhos, will thus have to ensure what is known as "agility" in the IT sector – the ability to quickly adjust to changes.

Leinhos is familiar with the task: he is a cyber warfare specialist and was responsible for "Cyber Defense" at NATO's Brussels headquarters until early 2016. But a team is only as good as its personnel. The Bundeswehr is therefore counting on bringing in people from the private sector and other branches of its military, as well as those studying at the army's Bundeswehr University in Munich – where it has founded a "Cyber Cluster." The Bundeswehr also wants to work with IT branch start-ups and has initiated a so-called "Cyber Innovation Hub." The hub allows young IT entrepreneurs from Berlin to get in contact with the Bundeswehr.

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The German rapid reaction team (Blue Team 04) has taken part in several NATO manoeuvres

On April 5, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen will assemble the new cyber command for a celebratory installation in Bonn - initially the unit will consist of 260 members, who will, nevertheless, have to wait for their new building be completed before being able to move in for good. The unit is to be at full strength, and the Bundeswehr completely capable of comprehensive defense in cyberspace, by 2021.