Germany has spent more than €2 billion on a new digital radio system for its army, the Bundeswehr – while also failing to get the system to work.
A leaked internal memo by the German Ministry of Defence shows that the country so far spent €1.75 billion on the project, called Digitisation of Land-Based Operations (D-LBO). Another €300 million went to accompanying measures, bringing the total to over €2.1 billion.
The MoD submitted the confidential document to Germany’s parliament, and a copy was leaked by newspaper Die Welt.
The project, initiated in 2021, is ambitious: It aims to digitally link up soldiers, vehicles and operations with one unified radio system.
The D-LBO project involves the cream of Germany’s defence industry, with defence behemoths Rheinmetall and KNDS tasked with outfitting 10,000 army tanks and vehicles with the new radio system.
However, the project has been fraught with difficulties and has missed practically all its target dates.
Originally, the first Bundeswehr units were supposed to begin using D-LBO in 2026.
Now this deadline has reportedly been pushed back to the 2030s.
In March 2026, a leaked internal test report revealed the system had completely failed two tests in late 2025.
According to the report, exercises conducted with tanks outfitted with the new system had shown “danger to life and limb”.
“In its current state, the D-LBO basic system is neither ready for operational testing nor suitable for training and exercise purposes,” added the report.
“Given the current stage of development, the use of the system by troops cannot be recommended,” it said.
German MPs reportedly tried to obtain a copy of the report for weeks, but the Ministry of Defence had declined to hand it out prior to the leak.
The latest revelations of the failed radio system’s hefty price tag and low performance have drawn scorn and ridicule alike.
A different take was that of journalist Boris Reitschuster.
“This collective incompetence is probably our only lifeline: Someone too stupid to get their radio to work is probably considered so dangerous by the Kremlin that they don’t dare cross the border, purely out of fear of unpredictable German ingenuity,” he surmised.
Brussels Signal approached Germany’s MoD for comment, but had not received a response at the time of writing.
