The Quest for Relevant Air Power

GERMAN Air Force │ 165
airspace surveillance capability. 80 Particularly, the tactical air control
units, till 2005 only concerned with home and alliance defence,
are to be modernised and developed into a state-of-the-art
tactical air command and control service with a mobile component.
81 Since the GAF’s projection capability significantly hinges
upon materiel in order to cover the new mission spectrum, full
adoption of Air Force Structure 6 will only be completed with the
introduction of planned systems. 82
Professional personnel are a further key criterion for expeditionary
armed forces. Despite general conscription and the resulting
difficulties in deploying troops, the problem does not seem as
serious for the GAF as for the German Army. In the time span
from 1990 to 2002, the percentage of professionals has increased
from 65.5 per cent to 76 per cent. 83
German Reunification and Its Impact upon the German Air
Force. On 3 October 1990, the two Germanies were reunified. The
West German Air Force was subsequently tasked to disband the
East German Air Force and to integrate the remaining parts,
which were unified in a single AD. The establishment of the 5th
AD allowed for a smooth integration. Against the backdrop of Air
Force Structure 4, the original 3d AD in West Germany was disbanded,
and the 5th AD in the East was renamed 3d AD in early
1994. The headquarters of the newly formed 3d AD was relocated
to Gatow, a former RAF air base in West Berlin. The 5th AD was
initially equipped with systems of the East German Air Force, including
MiG-29s, SAM systems, and helicopters of Soviet provenance.
Its structure encompassed two GBAD wings, a supply regiment,
a helicopter unit, and a MiG-29 wing, later to be augmented
by West German F-4 Phantoms. With the transition to Air Force
Structure 4, the formerly East German SAM systems were replaced
by Hawk and Patriot systems, and the Recce Wing 51 was transferred
to the newly established 3d AD. 84 On 1 January 1995, the
operational units in former East Germany were allocated to NATO
and became thereafter part of NATO’s integrated air defence. 85
The disbandment of the East German Air Force required the
scrapping of the main bulk of its weapons systems, as they could
hardly be used in a Western defence concept. 86 At the end of the
Cold War, the East German armed forces had an overall strength
of 767 aircraft from all services, both fixed and rotary wing. 87