Baerbock's visit to Syria: five aircraft and high costs for the Bundeswehr!

Baerbock's visit to Syria: five aircraft and high costs for the Bundeswehr!

Damaskus, Syrien - The trip of Annalena Baerbock, the Federal Foreign Minister, to the new rulers in Syria, the Bundeswehr presented logistical challenges and caused high costs. A total of five aircraft were used during their visit, including a government Airbus A319 that flew to Cyprus, and several A400M and C130J.

A military van A400M was sent directly to Syria, while another A400M served as a replacement machine. In addition, a C130J that was intended for the transport of special forces was in use. This completed around 17 flight hours, based on several flights from France to Germany and on to Syria and back. In total, more than 24 flights were carried out for the visit and over 100 forces were mobilized to meet the difficult security situation in Syria.

costs of the operations

The flights with the A400M machines add up to around 40 flight hours, whereby the costs per hour of flight are estimated to be around 50,000 euros. The A319 flight to Cyprus cost around 30,000 euros per hour of flight, while the return flight to Cyprus took almost eight hours. The Federal Foreign Office described Baerbock's journey as "important in terms of foreign policy".

Baerbock, who traveled to Damascus with the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on January 3, experienced a mixed reception because the rebel leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa did not greet her by handshake. Another German member of the government is planning a trip to Syria with a lesser logistical effort soon. The Ministry of Defense did not comment on the exact costs of the visit, since flight and personnel costs cannot be viewed in isolation. An official confirmation of the use of five aircraft was rejected for reasons of military security.

modernization of the A400M base

of the 19 delivered A400M transport aircraft are currently only about eight ready for use. Germany has ordered a total of 53 A400M machines from Airbus because they are supposed to replace the older Transall transport aircraft. The delivery of the A400M was delayed by more than 11 years, which led to cost increases of 1.5 billion euros over the original budget. In addition, the A400M is also used as a tank aircraft and is intended to serve as a "flying intensive care unit" for the Bundeswehr in the future to transport injured people from crisis areas.

For further details on the costs and operations of the new aircraft as well as the logistical challenges associated with Baerbock's visit, the reports from Fuldainfo and n-tv to be consulted.

-transmitted by West-East media