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They move around the terrain as undetected as possible or fly over enemy territory with remote-controlled, unmanned reconnaissance drones – the Bundeswehr’s reconnaissance aircraft. Your task: collect as much and precise information as possible about the enemy, registering their strength, locations, weapons and movements. With their information they should help their own command centers to survive a battle or, even better, to win.
Reconnaissance of the enemy with “Fennek” and drones
They belong to the elite troops of the Bundeswehr. Part of it has been stationed in Gotha for many years – the 13th Reconnaissance Battalion. Its domicile is the Friedenstein barracks on the southern edge of the district town. Around 500 soldiers belong to the unit. The reconnaissance aircraft are comparatively lightly armed, their most important vehicle is the Fennek armored reconnaissance vehicle, and their most important “tools” include unmanned reconnaissance drones.
Change at the top of the unit
Since Monday, Reconnaissance Battalion 13 has had a new commander. At a ceremonial roll call in the courtyard of Friedenstein Castle, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Hoppe took over command of the unit from his predecessor, Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Biebrach. He had led the battalion for the past three years. Such three-year “uses,” as the Bundeswehr calls them, are common. The careers of senior officers in particular involve a constant change between troop commands and so-called staff assignments – a change between barracks and office every few years. In between there are often training courses and assignments abroad.
In his farewell speech, the outgoing commander Biebrach referred to the unit’s numerous foreign missions in recent years. Since 1996, the battalion has provided soldiers for a total of 25 missions, including in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Mali, he said. This intensive operational activity is a “proof of the special role of reconnaissance officers” in the Bundeswehr. In the three years under his command, the reconnaissance battalion played a central role in the NATO response force, the NATO Response Force. Last year it formed the core of a multinational reconnaissance battalion as part of the NRF’s “blocking force, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force”.
Battalion is facing drastic changes
His successor Hoppe – he is a trained artilleryman, studied business administration and switched to the reconnaissance squad a few years ago – will now lead the Gotha battalion into a process of change. According to his predecessor Biebrach, the unit will hand over around 40 percent of its positions to other Bundeswehr units and thereby lose one of its current three reconnaissance companies. These changes are part of a structural reform of the army, with which the Bundeswehr is intended to better adapt to its main task of national and alliance defense.
This loss means “painful cuts” for the Gotha battalion, according to its outgoing commander. However, the Gotha location will receive new tasks for soldiers due to the planned expansion of a company stationed here from Supply Battalion 131 from Bad Frankenhausen and the re-establishment of the Homeland Security Regiment 5. The battalion also continues to play an important role in training new soldiers.