Academic Year 1967-1968, Unit 3: Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany Page: 20
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SOME FREE WORLD ARMED FORCES
from a standard 10 wheel flatbed truck, modified
with the necessary launching rail.
There are 12 Honest John battalions opera-
tional in the Bundeswehr. Precise figures regard-
ing the number of missiles assigned to each
Bundeswehr battalion are not available, but U.S.
Honest John battalions have 254.
The Pershing is a two stage artillery missile
produced in the United States. This weapon sys-
tem was designed to have a short reaction time
and to be highly portable. Carried on four spe-
cially designed tracked vehicles, the system can
move at 40 mph. and negotiate unimproved ter-
rain. Both propulsion stages jettison after burnout
while the warhead continues as a ballistic missile.
Range figures for operational Pershings are not
available; however, the training version has a
controllable range between 115 and 460 miles.
The Sergeant is a solid fuel, single stage rocket
with an inertial guidance system. Also made in
the U.S., it is capable of delivering a nuclear war-
head 85 miles from launch. The missile and its
support equipment are relatively compact and
can be readily moved by aircraft or by standard
army vehicles. All atomic and nuclear warheads
for Bundeswehr ordinance capable of delivering
them, are stored and controlled by U.S. authori-
ties.
The Cobra is a wire-guided anti-tank missile
system, small and light enough to be carried by
one man. Capable of piercing almost 19 inches of
armor plate, the self-contained Cobra can be set
up, launched, and controlled by one man. The
control box carried with the missile can be con-
nected to a distributor so that the same man can
fire and control eight Cobras in sequence. A total
of 80,000 Cobras have been ordered by the West
German Army, and the armed services of other
NATO and non-Communist countries.
Armored Vehicles. The Leopard is a German
built medium tank, powered by a 10-cylinder
V engine developing 830 horsepower. This tank
has a top speed of 43 mph and carries a 105-
mm gun as its main weapon. Three tons heavier
than its Russian built contemporary, the T-55,
the Leopard exceeds it in range, speed, and gun
size. The veteran tanks of Korean war vintage,
the M-47 and M-48 Patton, are still in service
with the West German Armed Forces but are
being replaced with Leopards.
One of the most interesting new developments
in the West German armament picture is the
West German-United States main battle tank de-
veloped program. On 1 August 1963, the U.S.
and the Federal Republic agreed to cooperate in
the development of a main battle tank to be pro-duced by each country for its own defense needs.
Assuming that the program proceeds as well in
the future as it has until now, the new main bat-
tle tank should be in production on or before the
target date of 1970. Several innovations are being
considered in developing this weapon. By May
1966, a mutually acceptable design had been
agreed upon and the remaining development
workloads had been apportioned between the
two countries. Part of the U.S. contribution will
be to incorporate its Shillelagh missile into a
newly designed primary armament system.
The Kanonenjagdpanzer (Hunter-Killer Tank)
first appeared in public at the NATO exercises
in 1963. Only 6 feet and 3 inches high, this tank
without a turret mounts a high velocity 90-mm
gun in an elevatable mount, projecting forward
from the hull. Powered by a Mercedes V-6 wa-
ter-cooled diesel engine, it has a maximum speed
of 50 mph and a range of 340 miles. This is ap-
parently the latest development in compromises
between firepower, mobility, and survivability in
mobile gun and tank design. In this case the
flexibility of a turret has been given up to gain
the advantages of reduced weight, in exchange
for higher speed and range, and a lower silhou-
ette.
SUMMARY
A MULTITUDE of changes have occurred in Eu-
rope since the end of World War II. The dis-
memberment of Germany and the enforced in-
clusion of the eastern, half in the Communist
Empire, and the progressive development of the
western portion into a contributing member of
the North Atlantic Community of nations, are
now a matter of history. West Germany's eco-
nomic revival and the flowering of representative
democracy in the Federal Republic, are parts of
the present and the future. In the Bundeswehr,
West Germany has shown not only her willing-
ness to share the responsibility and costs of de-
fense, but her commitment to the concepts of
free government and international responsibility.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What were the original Allied agreements re-
garding Germany after World War II? To
what extent were they carried out? Why?
2. What were the motives behind the move to-
ward European unity after World War II? De-
scribe how these objectives have been imple-
mented.
3. Describe the relationship between the govern-
ment of the Federal Republic of Germany and
20
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Air University (U.S.). Academic Year 1967-1968, Unit 3: Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, pamphlet, January 1967; Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1010254/m1/24/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.