Joint Support Service (Germany)



The Joint Support Service (Streitkräftebasis, SKB) is a branch of the German Bundeswehr established in October 2000 as a result of major reforms of the Bundeswehr. It handles various logistic and organisational tasks of the Bundeswehr. It adds a fifth service-like organization to the four other major branches of the Bundeswehr, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Joint Medical Service.

Organisation
Unlike the similar British Defence Logistics Organisation and the Australian Department of Defence's Support Command Australia, Germany's current military environment has led to a number of combat-associated commands being allotted to it, principally the residual German territorial defence structure embodied in the four Wehrbereichskommandos (Military District Commands), and the national supervision of German military operations 'out of area', performed by the Einsatzführungskommando (Bundeswehr Operations Command), which is headquartered in Potsdam.

The WBK headquarters are in:
 * Kiel WBK I
 * Mainz WBK II
 * Erfurt WBK III
 * Munich WBK IV

Each Military District Command controls several Landeskommandos (State Commands) due to the federal structure of Germany. Previously this function was carried out by the Verteidigungsbezirkskommandos (VBKs) or Military Region Commands (Defence District Commands). These command authorities are in charge of all military facilities in their area of responsibility and of several supporting regiments. The SKB was formed on the basis of the former IV (GE) Korps. Most of its remaining elements have been reassigned from the Central Military Agencies of the Bundeswehr, encompassing a wide range of logistics agencies, schools, and other support units.

The top command authorities are the Kommando Streitkräftebasis (Joint Support Service Command) which is in charge of numerous of command and control roles. The Streitkräfteamt (Armed Forces Office) directs all schools, training and research centres, the Military Counterintelligence Service (Militärischer Abschirmdienst), and the Bundeswehr's higher academies and universities.

Personnel
The total strength on 31 December 2014 was 42,902 officers and enlisted personnel.

Structure

 * Vice Chief of Staff, Bundeswehr and Chief of Staff of the Joint Support Service (Currently: Vice Admiral Manfred Nielson)
 * Bundeswehr Operations Command
 * Joint Support Service Command
 * Bundeswehr Logistics Centre
 * Bundeswehr Logistics Office
 * Bundeswehr Geoinformation Office
 * Bundeswehr Military Intelligence Centre
 * German element, CIMIC Centre of Excellence
 * Psychological Operations Centre (Zentrum Operative Information - ZOpInfo)
 * Psychological Operations Battalion 950
 * Strategic Reconnaissance Command
 * Bundeswehr SIGINT Technical Analysis Centre
 * Signal Sectors
 * Strategic Reconnaissance School
 * Electronic Warfare Battalions
 * Military District Command I (Coast) and State Command Schleswig-Holstein
 * State Command Hamburg
 * State Command Bremen
 * State Command Lower Saxony
 * State Command Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
 * Major training areas
 * Bundeswehr Military Police
 * Army Band Neubrandenburg
 * CIMIC Centre
 * Military Police Battalion 151
 * Military Police Battalion 152
 * Logistics Regiment 17
 * Logistics Brigade 1
 * Military District Command II and State Command Rhineland-Palatinate
 * State Command Hesse
 * State Command North-Rhine Westphalia
 * State Command Saarland
 * Major training areas
 * Military Police Battalion 251
 * Military Police Battalion 252
 * Command Support Regiment 28
 * Command Support Regiment 29
 * Military District Command III and State Command Thuringia
 * State Command Brandenburg
 * State Command Saxony-Anhalt
 * State Command Saxony
 * Garrison Command, Berlin
 * Guard Battalion of the FMoD
 * Staff Band of the Bundeswehr
 * Military Police Battalion 350
 * Military District Band III
 * Military Police Battalion 351
 * Military Police Battalion 352
 * Command Support Regiment 38
 * Military District Command IV and State Command of Bavaria
 * State Command Baden-Württemberg
 * Major training areas
 * Mountain Band of the Bundeswehr
 * Military Police Battalion 451
 * Military Police Battalion 452
 * Bundeswehr Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre
 * Command Support Regiment 38
 * Logistics Regiment 46
 * Logistics Regiment 47
 * Joint Command, Special Operations
 * Response Forces Operations Command
 * Armed Forces Office
 * Bundeswehr Transformation Centre
 * Leadership Development and Civic Education Centre
 * Bundeswehr Verification Centre
 * Bundeswehr Academy for Information and Communication
 * Bundeswehr Command Support School
 * Bundeswehr Institute of Social Sciences
 * Bundeswehr Logistics School
 * German Armed Forces Military History Research Office / Military History Research Institute
 * Bundeswehr Military Police and Headquarters Service School
 * German Armed Forces Command, United States and Canada
 * Bundeswehr Sports School
 * German elements in multinational headquarters/agencies
 * Military Music Center of the Bundeswehr
 * Military attaché offices
 * Bundeswehr School of Dog Handling
 * Infrastructure staffs
 * Military elements in the Bundeswehr Universities (Helmut Schmidt/Hamburg and Munich)
 * Bundeswehr Personnel Office
 * Bundeswehr Enlisted Personnel Office
 * Federal College for Security Studies
 * Office for Military Studies