BERLIN - German military spending would rise to 31.54 billion euros ($41.2 billion) in 2011, up 438 million euros or about 1.4 percent from this year, according to the draft budget presented Sept. 14 by the government to parliament.
Various committees and the parliament's upper house will discuss the budget and vote on it in December.
In the budget debate Sept. 15, Defense Secretary Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg stressed once again the need to shrink and restructure the military.
Zu Guttenberg said 163,500 soldiers is the smallest the military should be if it is to perform a leading role in NATO and the European Union, protecting Germany and being ready for deployments abroad.
Personnel costs would come to 16.53 billion euros, more than half of the total. That includes 454.6 million euros for pay and benefits for about 55,000 conscripts.
Procurement spending would rise from 5.07 billion euros this year to 5.23 billion next year. That includes 565 million euros for the A400M transport plane, 1.25 billion euros for the Eurofighter jet fighter and 87 million euros for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle.
Some 2.18 billion euros are scheduled for Bundeswehr's general operations. That includes operating costs for the nine foreign operations Germany is currently participating in, which will run 831 million euros, including 231.7 million euros for troops' deployment bonuses.
Maintenance costs are to rise from 1.99 billion euros this year to 2.03 billion euros.
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