European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 04, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Germany a military it Turett a to f by Heinz Schulte Jane a defence weekly f or Sale unwanted gift enough armaments to equip a Complete army and air Force plus some warships suitable for Small apply soonest a to German government bonn.�?�. This is a fictitious advertisement of course but the problem is a real one. As a result of unification in october the German armed forces reluctantly inherited a huge amount of arms and equipment from the now defunct German democratic republics National people s army Nova. A total of 2,000 tanks 6,000 armoured combat vehicles and 2,000 artillery pieces came into bund Estehr custody. A with a few exceptions however the German armed. Forces do not want old Warsaw pact equipment which. Would require hew training special spare parts and corresponds to different military tactics. But included in this mass of equipment a mostly. A soviet designed a Are some real gems including 24 Mig-29 fulcrum the most modern soviet fighter Jet sophisticated 122mm howitzers and a Large Quantity of the universally admired ak-74 combat rifles. A a. officers also were shocked to find that the Nova had stored 300,000 tons of ammunition,., the 70,000 tons stocked by the bund Estehr which is three times the size of the Nova. Another bizarre consequence of unification is the fact that soviet soldiers will be based in Germany until 1994. Nato analysts now estimate that the soviet forces in Germany hold Between 700,000 and one million tons of ammunition and they Are unlikely to take All of it Back to the soviet Union. N Quot we Are literally sitting on a powder Keg Quot said a senior German officer responsible for Liaison with the soviets. Much of the Nova equipment will have to be disposed of in order to comply with the terms of the Vienna conventional forces in Europe arms reduction treaty. Under that treaty United Germany will have to destroy a 3,600 tanks a 3,000 from the Nova and 600 West German models. addition 2,500 Nova artillery pieces and 150 from the. Bund Estehr and 500 combat aircraft and 110 West. German warplanes Are to be taken out of the. German. Arsenal. A a a a a a a a a a eventually the bund Estehr is Likely to retain 160.000 through German unification the Luftwaffe acquired 24 advanced Mig-29 fulcrum Jet fighters. Ak-74 automatic rifles some helicopters and much needed transport aircraft. A. The rest including 12 Navy vessels and the Mig-29s a will remain in service their. Future is / Quot in theory the Cost conscious state comptrollers office requires the bund Estehr to justify every Case where an existing piece of East German equipment is to be a a Quot replaced by a Brand new item of West German origin. /. But the retention of additional Nova equipment would have an Adverse effect on the German arms Industry. Already the famed Rifle manufacturer heckler amp Koch is in financial difficulty since the bund Estehr is now unlikely to buy the new hk-g11 automatic Rifle As the company had the Nova s arms the bund Estehr got a substantial amounts of other equipment such As trucks a Field hospitals radio sets water purification kits. Engineering systems and Abc nuclear biological and chemical warfare Protection suits. A. A display of these items was arranged in november at a military base near Hannover in Northern Germany for possible use by . Forces in the persian Gulf the Kohl government has offered some $670 million Worth of military equipment As a contribution to operation desert shield. A. And while . Forces in the Gulf possess an abundance of modern arms Germany s nato partner Turkey. A sharing a common Border with Iraq and the soviet Union a does not. A. A a a a. \ a a. The bund Estehr has uttered the turks Leopard i main Battle tanks from West Gorman arsenals As Well As tank transporters infantry combat vehicles infantry weapons and engineering equipment from the Nova r. The most promising Market for Nova goods is in Eastern. Europe. The armies of the Warsaw pact wore equipped with soviet designed arms for decades. In the meantime Luftwaffe pilots and airmen from t other nato countries Are Busy wringing the maximum out of the migs at an airbase near Cottbus a a task which has taken on particular urgency in recent weeks. Allied air forces May encounter iraqi Mig-29s Over the Gulf and they need to know the fulcrum s capabilities. All _ testing is scheduled for completion by the my kilo of next year. It. A fulcrum do Findt Hoir Way Back to an Eastern european air Force the irony will be considerable. Quot Germany a Cornerstone of nato will have sold soviet equipment Back to a former member of the Warsaw pact. It is a very logical Deal that would have been 1 inconceivable last year. _ a i. Heinz Schulte be a Germany based Correi Pondell for Jane defence weekly part of the Jones a information group in London. And stripes bookstores stars and stripes bookstores a not since the naked and the dead has the american Soldier been portrayed so powerfully.1 Jack Higgins author of the has landed 33s every War inspires one or two exceptional novels the kind of Peerless fiction that exactly captures the truth and essence of that particular time and place. Michael Peterson s a time of War is the novel about Vietnam that everyone should read. Peterson a former Marine lieutenant who served with distinction in Vietnam will appear at the following stars and stripes bookstores in Germany to autograph copies of his Best Selling Book and discuss his own time in combat Vogel Weh shopping Center a r saturday Jan. 5frankfurt shopping Center a sunday Jan. 6 Heidelberg shopping Center a saturday Jon. 12 All appearances by Peterson Are Between 1 and 3 pan. A time of War is a stars and stripes top 7 0 paperback selection for january and will be discounted 10% from the regular cover Price. Michael Peterson on the Doz in 1968 co g 3d co it z a Cut stars and stripes bookstores stars and stripes bookstores a a. The stars and stripes Friday january 4, 1991 a a a Page 17
