Even the BAAINBw’s president, Annette Lehnigk-Emden, sees the need for speed. In an interview with the German civil service magazine dbb, she said her office had thrown “about 80 of around 160 procedural rules overboard,” adding: “Time is now the guiding factor.”
That’s what Pistorius hopes to unlock with Wednesday’s reform. But outside watchdogs say the issues won’t be easy to fix.
Kay Scheller, the president of Germany’s federal audit office, told Bild that Bundeswehr procurement had become a “system of organized irresponsibility,” arguing that there is a culture of ducking responsibility rather than making fast decisions.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, second from left, is pictured with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, center, at the handover of vehicles to regional civil defense agencies, in Berlin on May 20, 2026. | Maryam Majd/Getty Images
In his annual report, Henning Otte, the Bundestag’s parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, described the procurement regulations as “extremely complex.”
The dilemma is that Germany cannot simply rip out the safeguards that make procurement slow. Those controls exist to protect soldiers, ensure value for taxpayers and preserve parliament’s authority over military spending.
Christoph Schmid, the Social Democrats’ top defense lawmaker, cautioned against blaming bureaucracy alone. “There is also a responsibility of the companies to actually deliver what they have promised,” he said.