The German military has had to rent helicopters from the national automobile club to train its pilots.
The armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, have long been bedevilled by equipment problems because of historic staffing constraints. Shortages have ranged from unusable transport aircraft to tanks without gun barrels.
The defence ministry has signed a €63 million deal with Adac — Europe’s largest motoring association, which also has an aviation arm — to hire seven Airbus EC135 rescue helicopters until 2024, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported.
The Bundeswehr is struggling to give trainee pilots flight time because of technical glitches in its fleet of Tiger combat helicopters and NH90 Sea Lion transport helicopters. The government tried to plug the gap in 2017 by renting four
