Germany Expands Military for the First Time Since the Cold War. For the first time in more than 25 years, the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) is planning to expand, an announcement was made 10 May by German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen. In an effort to counter the growing threat of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), von der Leyen announced that over the next seven years, 14,300 more troops will be recruited to fill Germany's expanding military presence in the world. The plan is to create 5,000 front-line positions by restructuring current personnel and to recruit 7,000 more. The current plan leaves 2,300 required positions vacant. The Bundeswehr currently constitute roughly 180,000 soldiers, far less than the 585,000 soldiers it had when the nation unified in 1990. Yet Germany is looking to take on a greater role in regional conflicts with its new professional army.
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机译：自冷战以来，德国首次扩军。 5月10日，德国国防部长Ursula von der Leyen宣布了德国武装部队（Bundeswehr）计划25年来的首次扩张。为了应对自称“伊斯兰国”（IS）日益严峻的威胁，冯·德·莱恩宣布，在未来七年中，将再招募14300人，以填补德国在世界范围内不断扩大的军事存在。该计划是通过重组现有人员来创建5,000个一线职位，并再招聘7,000个。当前计划中有2300个所需职位空缺。德国联邦国防军目前约有180,000名士兵，远低于1990年该国统一时的585,000名士兵。然而，德国希望与其新的专业部队在地区冲突中发挥更大的作用。
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