Operational Art of the German Army: "Freie Operationen".

The geostrategic and military situation for NATO and specifically for the FEDERAL REPUBLIC of GERMANY created in the wake of Germanys reunification and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, has led to revival of the military-strategic principle of counter-concentration under the umbrella of the Alliances strategic defense. The Alliances New Strategic Concept, dated 7 November 1991, insists on the Alliances continuing a purely defensive orientation. This implies that NATO forces will never be employed in the context of a strategic offensive, but only used in a strategic defensive role. The principle of military-strategic counter-concentration of MC 400 is the core of NATOs new military strategy. Based to these historical facts, three related processes are having profound effects on the Bundeswehr - the German Federal Armed Forces. First, the ruling of the Constitutional Court relative to the commitment of forces outside of Germany and NATO territory has expanded the range of its possible military missions. Second, a new operational dimension has been created by the prospects for greater integration of the Bundeswehr in multinational formations and more important operations. Third, as policy changes follow these developments, the size and composition of the Bundeswehr are evolving to meet the associated challenges. All of these changes within NATO and the European Union, within the range of potential missions, and within the Bundeswehr itself have influenced German thinking on matters that were, like many other military and political initiatives, frozen by the superpower standoff that began in 1945.