German special forces are preparing for war with Russia
The German Special Forces Command focused on long-term combat preparations on the terrain, restructuring its training program according to a possible conflict scenario with Russia. Within four hours, trainings against extreme cold weather conditions and conventional army threats gained weight.
The German Special Forces Command (SSK) is completely renewing the doctrine of training and operations according to a possible war scenario with Russia.
Speaking to Bild newspaper, KSK Commander Brigadier General Andreas Kühne said that they directly focused on Russia as an enemy in planning and exercises.
Reminding that the special forces planned their operations in the past for periods of short periods of three days and then arranged them to return to the base, Kühne said that the soldiers would have to stay in the terrain for a much longer time in the new period, and that the term of office in the first phase of the operation may be completely uncertain.
Stating that Germany showed the capabilities of its special forces on the ground during the exercises carried out in the Baltic countries, Kühne emphasized that this deterrence aims to give a clear message to Moscow that an attack against NATO will cause heavy losses.
The German commander said, "Putin knows our combat power."
The new training program prepares German commandos for a clash with tanks, heavy artillery batteries, unmanned aerial vehicles and a conventional army with advanced electronic warfare systems.
The troops also focus on the operational scenarios in the eastern flank of NATO by conducting survival and fighting in extremely cold weather conditions.
In the event of a hot conflict with Russia, the KSK is planned to take action before the main combat elements of the German army.
Special forces, 45th, located in Lithuania. The Armored Brigade aims to complete the critical missions given to them on the field before entering the battle.
Kühne pointed out that the unit has a preparation for a transfer that can take off from Stuttgart within four hours after the alarm was issued.
From far-right debates to conventional warfare
Approximately 1500 personnel serve within the KSK, whose headquarters is located in the Zeppelin barracks in the city of Calw, but only a third of this squad consists of direct-commando-class combat soldiers.
Only more than 15 percent of the candidates who apply to enter the union, whose staff occupancy rate is between 70 and 80 percent, can pass the difficult elimination process.
While it is stated that the personnel spend around 500 thousand cartridges in trainings every year within the scope of combat preparation, the soldiers undergo intensive power development, swimming and chest-to-sheeft collision trainings.
Since its establishment in 1996, the KSK, which has carried out reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines, the rescue of hostages, the fight against terrorism, evacuation from conflict zones, has also fought against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The union was shaken by far-right scandals a few years ago and was in danger of being abolished.
In this process, the Nazi salute among the soldiers, the organisation of entertainment with pig heads, the mysterious disappearance of ammunition and the seizure of illegal weapons and explosive depots in a soldier's house drew great public reaction.
After the scandals, a division of the KSK was completely disbanded in 2020. Commander Kühne admits that similar disciplinary and right-right cases have decreased extremely today, but such trends have not completely disappeared.
Preparations for Russia on the German front are not limited to land elements. In June, the German Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Holger Neumann announced that if Russia attacks NATO territory, German warplanes are ready to directly attack Russian military targets.
Neumann; "We will defend every sect of our land" by counting the points in the Kaliningrad region, the Kola Peninsula, the vicinity of Saint Petersburg and the Black Sea among the possible targets.