Hartpunkt: Germany to Create Two New Combat Reconnaissance Brigades With Heavy Equipment

Germany is planning to create two new Combat Reconnaissance Brigades equipped with heavy equipment.

This is reported by the Hartpunkt publication, citing its own sources.

It is expected that the brigades will be subordinated to the level of corps command, will perform flank defense and serve as a corps reserve.

Despite the name, the new units should combine unmanned and manned combat vehicles, including main battle tanks.

It should be noted that, according to an official letter from the Hartpunkt, the German Federal Ministry of Defence has neither confirmed nor denied this information.

At the same time, the publication notes that in order to implement NATO’s new defense plans, the German army needs to increase its strength from about 62,000 soldiers to about 150,000.

The creation of such brigades to some extent repeats the approach of the British Army, which is reorganizing units with Ajax combat vehicles as combat reconnaissance platforms that are becoming the basis of strike reconnaissance brigades in Europe.

The implementation of this plan will be an important step in the transformation of the German Army, focused on rapid response and integrated intelligence on the battlefield, while providing reserve forces for critical operations.

As a reminder, the German Army is currently carrying out large-scale efforts to increase the size of the Armed Forces. Thus, in August 2025, the Bundeswehr approved the number of personnel due to the growing interest of citizens in military service.

As of July 21st, 2025, the Bundeswehr’s active personnel amounted to about 183,100, which is more than 2,000 more than on the same date last year.

The upward trend continues: as early as 2024, a record number of new recruits around 20,300 was documented, which is 8% more than in 2023. Of these, approximately 1,500 citizens entered professional and conscript service.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that Germany had created the first territorial defense division (Heimatschutzdivision), which would consist of 6,000 soldiers.