Active 1 October 2000 Founded 2000 | Country Germany | |
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Size 41,092 personnel (16 December 2016) Deputy Inspector Notable commanders Manfred Nielson, Wolfram Kühn, Johann-Georg Dora, Hans-Heinrich Dieter, Bernd Heise Similar | ||
The Joint Support Service (German: Streitkräftebasis, SKB, literally Armed Forces Foundation) is a branch of the German Bundeswehr established in October 2000 as a result of major reforms of the Bundeswehr. It handles various logistic and organisational tasks of the Bundeswehr. The SKB is the fifth component of the Bundeswehr, the other four being the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Joint Medical Service. As of December 2016, the force is composed of around 41,100 personnel.
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Organisation
Unlike the similar British Defence Logistics Organisation and the Australian Department of Defence's Support Command Australia, Germany's current military environment has led to a number of combat-associated commands being allotted to it, principally the residual German territorial defence structure embodied in the four Wehrbereichskommandos (Military District Commands), and the national supervision of German military operations 'out of area', performed by the Einsatzführungskommando (Bundeswehr Operations Command), which is headquartered in Potsdam.
The WBK headquarters are in:
Each Military District Command controls several Landeskommandos (State Commands) due to the federal structure of Germany. Previously this function was carried out by the Verteidigungsbezirkskommandos (VBKs) or Military Region Commands (Defence District Commands). These command authorities are in charge of all military facilities in their area of responsibility and of several supporting regiments. The SKB was formed on the basis of the former IV (GE) Korps. Most of its remaining elements have been reassigned from the Central Military Agencies of the Bundeswehr, encompassing a wide range of logistics agencies, schools, and other support units.
The top command authorities are the Kommando Streitkräftebasis (Joint Support Service Command) which is in charge of numerous of command and control roles. The Streitkräfteamt (Armed Forces Office) directs all schools, training and research centres, the Military Counterintelligence Service (Militärischer Abschirmdienst), and the Bundeswehr's higher academies and universities.