Germany and Japan Are Rearming Again, 80 Years After World War II

[EX500rider]

6. Certainly in Japan's case...but Germany had allowed rot to set in with low budgets

While on paper they were well armed, at one point a decade ago they only had a handful of combat ready tanks & fighters.
even now their combat readiness is below 50%.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski likes to relate a humorous moment from a NATO event that occurred during the 2013-2019 tenure of Dr. Ursula von der Leyen as head of Germany’s MoD. One of his German colleagues took him aside and pointed across the room to the CDU politician and told him:

“Do you see that woman over there,” asked his German colleague. “That’s our defense minister. She has more children than the Luftwaffe currently have serviceable aircraft.”

One of Germany’s most influential non-governmental think tanks is the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The institute keeps a close watch on defense procurement in Germany, mainly as it compares with the growing increases of Russia’s military budget. A report that the institute compiled last September projected how many years it would take Berlin’s military to reach the inventory levels of weapons it possessed in 2004.

The numbers were startling. To reach the number of combat aircraft the Luftwaffe had in 2004 at current production rates would take from now until 2066. To restore the fleet numbers for Main Battle Tanks (MBT) the Bundeswehr had in the same year would take until 2038. The replenishment date for Infantry Fighting Vehicles is 2043 and for artillery howitzers it is 2121, and so on.