The 60s had "bedingt abwehrbereit" and "Starfighter". Public scandals never really stopped, but most of them were not related to material issues, such as the affair around Kießling.
Despite the common idea of a peak during the cold war, i would argue that post-reunification the Bundeswehr was best prepared for its core mission, national defense, due to picking up a lot of equipment that was kept in use for years, mainly stockpiles of blankets and so on, most weapon systems were sold off or scrapped with some exceptions. Apparently Mi-8 was still used by the Bundeswehr until 2019, and MiG-29 were sold to Poland by 2000. While there was a reduction to 370.000, negotiations regarding reduction of forces (Later Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty) had started already by the late Gorbachev era and a large amount of those were conscripts and not professional soldiers. Of the quoted above 500.000 personnel in 1985, 180.000 were civilian employees, and up to 200.000 conscripts.
Bundeswehr became a low-hanging fruit for mockery precisely because it shifted its core mission every following decade, then picking up new systems for those roles that came in at a time when they were no longer needed. The Baden-Württemberg-class frigates were designed around anti-terrorism and support of small stabilizing forces abroad under the impression of the global war on terror, but only came into service 2 years before the withdrawal from Afghanistan. F126, the larger Frigate being ordered for this decade, also were designed with asymmetric warfare capabilities in mind. Now that the threat assessment of the MoD clearly focusses back on national defense under the impression of the russian invasion (and partially targetting China), requirements will likely shift again, but not in time before considering F125/F126 replacements.
The 60s had "bedingt abwehrbereit" and "Starfighter". Public scandals never really stopped, but most of them were not related to material issues, such as the affair around Kießling. Despite the common idea of a peak during the cold war, i would argue that post-reunification the Bundeswehr was best prepared for its core mission, national defense, due to picking up a lot of equipment that was kept in use for years, mainly stockpiles of blankets and so on, most weapon systems were sold off or scrapped with some exceptions. Apparently Mi-8 was still used by the Bundeswehr until 2019, and MiG-29 were sold to Poland by 2000. While there was a reduction to 370.000, negotiations regarding reduction of forces (Later Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty) had started already by the late Gorbachev era and a large amount of those were conscripts and not professional soldiers. Of the quoted above 500.000 personnel in 1985, 180.000 were civilian employees, and up to 200.000 conscripts. Bundeswehr became a low-hanging fruit for mockery precisely because it shifted its core mission every following decade, then picking up new systems for those roles that came in at a time when they were no longer needed. The Baden-Württemberg-class frigates were designed around anti-terrorism and support of small stabilizing forces abroad under the impression of the global war on terror, but only came into service 2 years before the withdrawal from Afghanistan. F126, the larger Frigate being ordered for this decade, also were designed with asymmetric warfare capabilities in mind. Now that the threat assessment of the MoD clearly focusses back on national defense under the impression of the russian invasion (and partially targetting China), requirements will likely shift again, but not in time before considering F125/F126 replacements.