The Armed Forces Staff, in the meaning of General staff, of the German Bundeswehr (German: Führungsstab der Streitkräfte - Fü S; literal: Command staff of the armed forces) was the central department of the Federal Ministry of Defence (MOD) in direct subordination to the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr (en: Chief of Staff of the Federal Armed Forces) and one of the five staff headquarters in the military command of the German Bundeswehr.
The Armed Forces Staff was thus at the same time a supreme military command authority and the top level ministerial staff organisation, authorised, mandated and competent to overall military defence planning, basics and concepts of military policy, planning of operational command and control, as well as to plans an policy of personnel education and training.
In 2012, there existed in MOD Germany supreme military command authority as follows:
Armed Forces Staff (Führungsstab der Streitkräfte – Fü S; General Staff of the Armed Forces)
Army Staff (Führungsstab des Heeres – Fü H; Army General Staff)
Air Force Staff (Führungsstab der Luftwaffe – Fü L; Air Force General Staff)
Navy Staff (Führungsstab der Marine – Fü M)
Medical Staff (Führungsstab des Sanitätsdienstes – Fü San; Medical Service Staff)
Parts of these top-level MOD staff authorities were merged in order to establish the new high command authorities of the German Bundeswehr as follow:
Army Command (Kommando Heer – Kdo Heer)
Air Force Command (Kommando Luftwaffe – Kdo Luftwaffe)
Navy Command (Kommando Marine – Kdo Marine)
In line to the new Bundeswehr command structure, the remaining staff elements were used to form on MOD level:
a Planning Division
an Armed Forces Command and Control Division and
a Strategy and Operations Division.
After World War II 1945 and in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement the establishment of autonomous German armed forces, including head quarters on general staff level, were forbidden. However, in line to the re-armament from Mai 5, 1955, in the new established Bundeswehr the designation Generalstab (general staff) was not more used, thus there existed tasks and missions on general staff level. This was the reason to establish the Armed Forces Staff as top level command organization in MOD Germany.
The Armed Forces Staff received tasks and orders direct from the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr. In addition, it was within its responsibility to handle command and control specific affairs, related to the Armed forces basic. This characterised the Armed Forces Staff as supreme military command authority.
Command
The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr (German: Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr, GenInspBw), a four-star rank (general or admiral), commanded the Armed Forces Staff. The Chief of Staff coordinated the staff work. According to the so-called Bundeswehr planning he was authorised to issue directives to the Inspectors General of the services Army, Air Force, and Navy, as well as to Inspector of the Joint Support Service Staff and Medical Service Staff.
June 1, 2003, the Armed Forces Staff and Joint Support Service Staff' were combined to a common staff authority of MOD Germany.
The Armed Forces Staff consisted of seven staff divisions (7 Stabsabteilungen) with a total number of 42 branches (42 Referate).
Staff division Fü S I – The chief of that particular division was Deputy Chief of Staff – Civic education and leadership, personnel, training, with the branches:
Fü S I/1 – Principles of manning requirements
Fü S I/2 – Basics of personnel planning, personnel situation, and recruitment situation of civil and military personnel of the armed forces, reserve component issues
Fü S I/3 – Internal and social situation of the armed forces
Fü S I/4 – Civic education and leadership
Fü S I/5 – Basic training affairs of the armed forces
Staff division Fü S II – Military intelligence of the Bundeswehr, with the branches:
Fü S II/1 – Basic affairs and concept of military intelligence
Fü S II/2 – Strategic reconnaissance; security officer of signal, electronic, and special reconnaissance; control authority of the Chief of Air Force Staff to military intelligence
Fü S II/3 – National risk evaluation; situation of other states; control authority of the Chief of Army Staff to military intelligence
Fü S II/4 – Military security of the Bundeswehr; control authority of the Chief of Navy Staff to military intelligence
Fü S II/5 – Foreign military attachés; situation of other states
Fü S II/6 – Geographic information system of the Bundeswehr; navigation in the Bundewehr
Staff division Fü S III – Military policy and armament control, with the branches
Fü S III/1 – Basics of military policy; bilateral relations
Fü S III/2 – Basics of military strategy; German-French working group on military cooperation; studiesFA 01
Fü S III/2 – NATO; Euro Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC); basic questions of military representation of the interest in organizations; Partnership for Peace (PfP)
Fü S III/3 – European Union; Western European Union; basic questions of military representation of the interest in these organizations; European control officer of MOD Germany
Fü S III/4 – Arms control; disarmament; non-distribution
Fü S III/5 – Military political basics on operations and exercises
Staff division Fü S IV – Logistics, ABC-Defence and security tasks
Fü S IV/1 – Basic matters of logistics of the Bundeswehr; logistic control of the Bundeswehr; international logistic cooperation
Fü S IV/2 – Material / supply management of the Bundeswehr
Fü S IV/3 – ABC-Defence and security tasks of the Bundeswehr; training areas and local training facilities
Fü S IV/4 – Mobility and transport logistic of the Bundeswehr
Fü S IV/5 – Planning of the Bundeswehr; armament and in service support management of the armed forces; authorized representative of IAGFA
Staff division Fü S V – Commitment (also: engagement or mission) of the Bundeswehr; from June 1, 2008, reorganised to Operations Control Staff of the Federal Ministry of Defence (Einsatzführungsstab des Bundesministeriums der Verteidigung) in direct subordination to the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr and not any more part of the Armed Forces Staff
Staff division Fü S VI – Planning, with the branches:
Fü S VI/1 – Basic affairs and controlling Bundeswehr planning, process responsibility main process Bundeswehr planning, BRH-affairs Armed Forces Staff / Joint Support Service (Fü S / SKB)
Fü S VI/2 – Conception of the Bundeswehr, transformation CD&E
Fü S VI/3 – Capability analysis
Fü S VI/4 – Bundeswehr planning
Fü S VI/5 – Contributions to the budget and finance planning of the armed forces/Joint Support Service; coordination management of the armed forces
Fü S VI/6 – Multinational armed forces planning, capability development, interoperability/standardisation;
Fü S VI/7 – Basics/further development of the armed forces
Staff division Fü S VII – Organisation, deployment, infrastructure, operations support, with the branches:
Fü S VII/1 – Basic affairs of the military organisation; business dealings, correspondence or exchange of letters in the armed forces; regulations and standardisation agreements
Fü S VII/2 – Organisation of the Joint Support Service
Fü S VII/3 – Coordination of the deployment of the Bundeswehr and utilisation of premises; deployment of the armed forces basis; enquiry group optimizing of locations and premises
Fü S VII/4 – Basic affairs of infrastructure of the armed forces; infrastructure requirements and – planning of the armed forces
Fü S VII/5 – Information and communication technology; radio frequency spectrum prerogative affairs
The Chief of staff did normally have the OF7-rank of a Generalmajors or Konteradmiral.
