Government aircraft without missile protection: “What a crazy plan”

This is reported by “Bild am Sonntag”. The original plan was to gradually upgrade the three A350 aircraft with missile protection starting this year.

In response to a request from the CDU housekeeper Ingo Gädechens, the Ministry of Defense said: “The proposal of the Inspector of the Air Force to forego the conversion of self-protection systems in favor of higher fleet availability was taken up by the Ministry and is currently being weighed up against costs, benefits and Risks assessed.”

Report: Chancellery has already agreed to waive the missile system

The installation of the missile protection, which the old A340 Chancellor aircraft already had, should take about six months per aircraft. During this time, the respective plane could not be used by the government.

The Ministry of Defense is currently asking the main users of the A350 aircraft (Chancellor, Federal President, Foreign Minister) what they think about flying around the world without protection against missile attacks for the time being. According to the report, at least the Chancellery has agreed to a waiver.

“What a crazy plan from the Department of Defense”

Harsh criticism comes from the defense expert Gädechens. He said “Bild am Sonntag”: “What a crazy plan from the Ministry of Defense! We have war on European soil again. And the government comes up with the idea of ​​eliminating the protection systems of the new government aviators!”

The federal government is officially silent and points out that it generally does not comment on security-related questions.

When the new A350 government aircraft were ordered in 2019, the installation of missile defense was still firmly planned. The Ministry of Defense put the total costs for the acquisition of the machines at 1.2 billion euros to the budget committee, and 229 million were estimated for the scaffolding of the self-protection system.