A previously confidential report has revealed more serious problems with the Bundeswehr’s new radio system than were understood before. According to “Welt am Sonntag”, the paper that parliamentarians have been demanding from the Ministry of Defence for weeks, the military rated the equipment – last deployed in a field test in November – as “inadequate” and warned that using it at this stage of development would already pose risks in training.
The report states that the operational test was ultimately aborted at the end of November because of significant faults. Those deficiencies were so severe that, in training scenarios, they already created a “danger to life and limb”. The system, according to the document, is neither ready for operational use nor for regular deployment. Whether it could reach operational readiness by 2026 remains unclear.
Particularly troubling were failures in even the most basic voice communications, such as between retrofitted combat tanks. Voice transmissions occasionally did not go through, and soldiers could not confirm whether their messages had been sent. This made reliable fire‑stop commands impossible and prevented the receipt of enemy reports-an unacceptable risk in combat situations.
Central functions like friendly‑force tracking worked only in a limited capacity. Overall, simple voice radio was described as “defective” and the operational range fell well below required limits.
When asked for comments, the Ministry of Defence declined to discuss the details. It neither acknowledged the reported deficiencies nor any recent improvements, but alluded to a forthcoming briefing on the project’s progress. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who had pledged full transparency for the large‑scale IT project “Digitalisierung Landbasierter Operationen” (D‑LBO), had previously noted a test cut short earlier in May.