emergencies, including humanitarian aid programs. The Bundeswehr consists of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Under the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) of 1990, the Federal Republic obligated itself to undertake considerable disarmament measures. It has scrapped approximately 8,600 tanks, artillery and aircraft and has decommissioned ships. This has entailed - pursuant to the 1994 conceptional guidelines for the further development of the Bundeswehr - a restructuring of the armed forces and a concomitant reduction in personnel.

The restructuring of the armed forces into main defense forces, reaction forces and basic military organization was set in motion with the presentation in June 1995 of the document on the adaptation of armed forces structures, the Territorial Defense Administration and the stationing of the Bundeswehr. The mission of the main defense forces is: 5>during peacetime: to establish through training the preconditions for attainment of full defense capability in times of crisis;)>\n times of crisis: to ensure through mobilization the augmentation of the armed forces; and in a state of defense: to defend the NATO territory together with its partners in the Alliance.