According to German Radio Deutsche Welle, quoting a new parliamentary report, the German Bundeswehr is still underequipped, understaffed and overly bureaucratic.

The report states that German soldiers have to rely on civilian helicopters to transport them around in Afghanistan. Soldiers have to borrow body armour.

Bundestag military commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels, presented the document at a press conference in Berlin. “I'd like to report: It's spring, everything will be new. But the truth is: It's still winter,” Bartels said.

According the report the biggest problem that Bundeswehr soldiers complained about was the lack of equipment. This is particularly true of heavy equipment: Bartels found that often less than 50 percent of the Bundeswehr's tanks, ships and aircraft were available at any one time, either for training or operational purposes.

“Spare parts are still missing; maintenance in industry is dragging; the training programs are suffering,” Social Democrat Bartels said. “An absolute must is the acceleration of procurement.”

Bartels states that the problem is not about money, It is “bureaucracy monster” that the army has become.