Strategic Readiness of European Defence - Germany's Reserve Forces in the Zeitenwende

Blog post by Kerry Hoppe

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Jack Wang, Jannic Meyer & Kerry Hoppe
August 22, 2025

Kerry Hoppe on Germany’s Reserve Forces

Welcome back to the Resilience Newsletter!

This week, we’re excited to share a Part 2 of a 3-Part Series by Kerry Hoppe exploring the timely debate in Germany about the push for defence readiness. In this article, Kerry examines the integral role reserves play as part of the German Armed Forces, their role going forward and current roadblocks.

Kerry Hoppe is founding member and host of the Munich Security Breakfast, a networking event within the framework of the Munich Security Conference fostering valuable connections between investors, founders and military personnel to promote innovation in defense. She is a reserve officer in the German Air Force and active within the German Liberals (FDP) furthering defence and resilience policy.

Yours,
Uwe, Jack and Jannic

The Bundeswehr’s reserves are one of the least visible, yet most decisive pillars of Germany’s defence. Without the reserves, any notion of sustained military readiness is illusory. While the political and public debate regarding personnel strength has revolved almost exclusively around a potential reintroduction of conscription, far less attention has been paid to the structural deficits in the reserve, a problem that risks leaving Germany’s Zeitenwende half-finished.

Disconcerting status quo

There are two contrasting realities when examining Germany's current reserve forces. The first is the theoretical potential: on paper, there are up to 930,000 reservists, populated largely by former conscripts. The second is the practical reality: only about 51,000 reservists are actually assigned to specific posts and train regularly.

This dramatic gap exists because mobilization structures have atrophied since the suspension of conscription in 2011. The Bundeswehr itself lacks awareness of the exact number of reservists or their contact information. This essential infrastructure that was lost over time. Consequently, the majority of general reserves haven't participated in training exercises for decades, and given that conscription peaked during the Cold War's final stages, most are likely in older age groups.

The smaller group of active reservists – around 51,000 – currently serves to compensate for personnel shortages, cover temporary demand spikes, and maintain readiness. However, this narrow role reflects Germany's post-Cold War political priorities: emphasising out-of-area missions while neglecting territorial defense requirements in Europe. During the Cold War era, massive reserve pools provided true depth, enabling the Bundeswehr to replenish frontline units and sustain prolonged operations.

Today, the reserve no longer offers that depth. As it stands, it cannot adequately support the armed forces in building or maintaining the capacity required for sustained defence.

No real shift in political urgency

The Ministry of Defence currently envisions expanding forces by 35% in active-duty personnel – from 183,000 to 260,000 – plus building a reserve pool of 200,000. However, Defence Minister Pistorius faces a difficult political legacy: decades of treating the reserves as an afterthought. 

This recognition prompted a significant policy shift. During the recent election campaign, both the Conservatives and Social Democrats in Germany's governing coalition acknowledged that reserves must play a fundamentally different and more important role. Rather than simply supporting active-duty troops as they had previously, there was bipartisan agreement on the importance of the reserves to ensure the growth and sustainment capability of the armed forces in scenarios requiring national and alliance defence.

Yet despite these new efforts, the coalition agreement devotes only one sentence to the reserves: “We want to further strengthen the reserve, equip them in accordance with their mission, and anchor them more firmly both structurally and in society.” In terms of word count, the new agreement is slightly more generous than the previous coalition that was only able to agree on the following: “We support strong reserve forces:”. While a step in the right direction, one must wonder if this is enough to fulfil these new ambitions.  

One thing stands out: the total absence of quantifiable goals as well as concrete policy proposals. In my opinion, this is indicative of a fundamental and uncomfortable truth: the strategic importance of the reserves in a shifting geopolitical landscape has been largely overlooked, resulting in a dangerous deficit of knowledge, creativity, and, not least, the courage required to propose meaningful reforms. 

Structural and operational obstacles

The envisioned reserve expansion faces several critical bottlenecks.

  1. Information management: Since conscription ended, databases containing hundreds of thousands of previously trained conscripts and reservists have been lost. Currently, tight data privacy regulations prohibit the Bundeswehr from directly receiving information about reservists from residents' registration offices. Similarly, an exchange of data between the Bundeswehr and the Reservist’s Association with its 115,000 members appears not to be legally possible. Amid increasing uncertainty, there is a dire need for a proper legal framework to reconcile data protection requirements and national defence priorities. A comprehensive registration infrastructure that allows for active exchange could release untapped potential. 

  2. Training throughput:  Instruction capacity to uphold a high level of training is insufficient – personnel and equipment shortages already plague the active forces and are even worse in the reserves. While the Reservist’s Association also contributes by providing training opportunities and exercises nationwide, helping its members maintain their basic skill-level, this is not enough. The shortage of capacity is particularly evident in the so-called training for unserved civilians – a program allowing civilians without military experience to undergo shortened basic training before joining reserves. Public demand is immense, yet only about 700 of thousands of qualified applicants can be trained annually. The lack of expansion in training capacity is striking, not least because the Bundeswehr repeatedly emphasises its severe personnel shortages, which are also cited as a justification in the current debate surrounding the reinstatement of conscription.

  3. Bureaucratic inertia: Both reservists wanting to engage more actively and said civilians are met with an opaque and inefficient system. Internal Bundeswehr analysis classified the current processes as inadequate for handling an increasing number of applicants in a timely and transparent manner while also failing to properly implement corrections – despite the stunning number of 6,800 people running the Armed Forces Personnel Office in Cologne, not counting all the HR resources within the various branches and organisations within the Armed Forces itself. Bureaucratic inertia is also exemplified in the security screening process conducted by the Military Counterintelligence Service. Every reservist wanting to reengage in training needs to undergo a basic security screening taking upwards of seven months on average, in some cases even years.

  4. Retention and integration: To build a functional force, the Bundeswehr must create pathways that keep reservists engaged, valued, and regularly trained. This includes offering predictable service opportunities compatible with civilian careers. Former active-duty soldiers with highly valuable skill sets are often only formally listed without meaningful follow-up, creating paper reserves that cannot be relied upon in practice. Each year 20,000 active-duty soldiers leave the Bundeswehr without adequate reserve integration – highly qualified assets the reserves cannot afford to waste.

Learning from European Allies: Finland’s reserve

In stark contrast to Germany’s reserves management, Finland’s reserve constitutes the backbone of its defence capabilities. Due to persistent geostrategic threats, Finland developed an early awareness of military readiness and national resilience, supporting an effective system of conscription and territorial defence that has endured with minor adjustments for decades.

The reserve forms the core of the Finnish armed forces and is central to national defence. In wartime, this country of 5.5 million could mobilise 900,000 trained reservists, with a target operational strength of 280,000 soldiers – ratios entirely feasible relative to its population, unlike in Germany. 

The system's effectiveness stems from continuous engagement: annually, over 45,000 Finnish reservists undergo military training. The National Defence Training Association (MPK) serves as both an umbrella organisation for Finland's reserve groups and a strategic partner of the Finnish Defence Forces, providing military training from individual to company levels through 2,000 certified volunteer instructors. The scale of activity is impressive. The Finnish Reservists' Association alone conducts 20,000 events annually, using five to six million rounds of ammunition.

What makes this system truly effective is the close cooperation between active-duty personnel and reserve associations, ensuring seamless integration, rapid mobilisation, and continuous skill development. Germany largely lacks such a cooperative framework. Mirroring the Finnish model by establishing clear coordination channels and shared exercises could transform Germany's underutilised reserves into a robust and reliable component of national defence.

From underutilised to indispensable: the path forward

Germany’s Zeitenwende in defence will remain incomplete if the reserve continues to be underutilised. Structural reforms, legal clarity, and proper resourcing are essential to unlock the full potential of reservists. 

A functional reserve transforms political intent into tangible defence capability. Without it, the Bundeswehr lacks the endurance needed for a protracted conflict – a gap Europe cannot afford.

Stay tuned for Part 3!

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European Resilience Tech Newsletter Team

Uwe Horstmann co-founded Project A Ventures in 2012 as General Partner and has built Project A to be a leading European early-stage investor with over $1bn USD under management and having backed 100+ founders. In addition to Project A, Uwe serves as Reserve Officer in the German armed forces and advises the German Ministry of Defence in digital transformation issues.

Jack Wang is a software engineer turned product-driven tech investor and joined Project A in 2021 to lead the firm’s deep tech investing, which has grown to include DefenceTech. Prior to joining Project A, Jack worked in a variety of organisations such as Amazon and Macquarie Group across Australia, US and UK / Europe. Jack holds a MBA from London Business School and Bachelors of Engineering (Bioinformatics, 1st) from UNSW, Australia.

Jannic Meyer joined Project A initially contributing to what is now known as the Project A Studio, partnering with founders at the pre-idea stage, where he covered a variety of topics ranging from energy infrastructure to dual-use robotics and led our investment in ARX Robotics. He is now part of the investment team at Project A covering all things resilience.

Project A Ventures is one of the leading early-stage tech investors in Europe with offices in Berlin and London. In addition to 1.3 billion USD assets under management, Project A supports its 100+ portfolio companies with a platform team over 140 functional experts in key areas such as software and product development, business intelligence, brand, design, marketing, sales and recruiting. Project A have backed founders of Trade Republic, WorldRemit, Sennder, KRY, Spryker, Catawiki, Unmind and Voi as well as founders building in European Resilience: