The Quest for Relevant Air Power

GERMAN Air Force │ 197
In the field of air-to-ground armament, the GAF started to implement
the lessons of modern warfare relatively late. Throughout
the 1990s, the GAF retained the submunitions dispenser system
MW-1, designed for low-level attacks against area targets, as the
main armament of its Tornado IDS fleet. 305 Precision-guided
standoff weapons and LGBs were only introduced in the wake of
the major air campaigns over the Balkans. Defence Minister
Scharping’s key document of 2000 explicitly argues that, while
main weapon systems were to be reduced, standoff and precision
strike capabilities had to be improved. 306 In 2001 the GAF acquired
a precision strike capability by means of the GBU-24 LGB. 307 In
2005 a further milestone was reached when the first of 600 Taurus
cruise missiles were delivered and integrated on the Tornado attack
aircraft. 308 Moreover, the need for weather-independent,
short-range PGMs became apparent. The German Eurofighter
fleet is to be equipped with the all-weather-capable GBU-48 PGM,
combining a semiactive laser with a combined inertial measuring
unit/GPS receiver, from 2012 onwards. As a standoff weapon,
Taurus cruise missiles are planned to be integrated on German
Eurofighters at a later stage. 309
Throughout the post–Cold War era, the GAF has retained specific
niche capabilities. This has been particularly apparent in the
domain of SEAD. Growing concerns over improvements in Warsaw
Pact air defences in the later stages of the Cold War rendered
a robust SEAD capability indispensable. Accordingly, a batch of
35 specialised Tornado ECR aircraft carrying the American
HARM missile was procured. 310 Due to changing requirements in
the post–Cold War era and the need to avoid collateral damage,
the United States, together with the European HARM users Germany
and Italy, conducted a HARM upgrade programme. 311
Along with this programme, Germany also embarked upon a national
and a bilateral programme together with France to develop
a new anti-radiation missile in the late 1990s. France, however,
bailed out of the bilateral programme, and the national programme
called Arminger was abandoned, too. 312
Air Mobility
The end of the Cold War revealed significant shortfalls in the
GAF’s airlift capacity. In early 1991, for instance, the GAF was not