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The German Air Force (German: ''Luftwaffe'' (), the German-language generic term for ''air force'') is the aerial warfare branch of the Bundeswehr, the armed forces of Germany. With a strength of 28,615 personnel (5 August 2015),〔 it is the fourth largest air force within the European Union, after the air forces of the United Kingdom, France and Italy. Although its budget has been significantly reduced since the end of the Cold War in 1989/90, the Luftwaffe is still among the best-equipped air forces of the world, although it currently suffers from high levels of aircraft unserviceability. Like the other branches of the Bundeswehr, it is fully integrated into the structures of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The German Air Force was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of then West Germany. After the reunification of West and East Germany in 1990, it integrated parts of the air force of the former German Democratic Republic, which itself had been founded in 1956 as part of the National People's Army. There is no organizational continuity between the current Luftwaffe of the Bundeswehr and the former Luftwaffe of the Wehrmacht founded in 1935, which was completely disbanded in 1945/46 after World War II. The term ''Luftwaffe'' that is used for both the historic and the current German air force is the German-language generic designation of any air force, thus not establishing a link between the two forces. The current commander of the German Air Force is Lieutenant General Karl Müllner. In 2013 the Air Force uses twelve air bases, three of which host no flying units. Furthermore, the Air Force has a presence at three civil airports. In 2012, the Air Force had an authorized strength of 44,565 active soldiers and 4,914 reservists.〔The Military Balance 2012, p.118〕 ==History== After World War II, German aviation was severely curtailed, and military aviation was completely forbidden after the ''Luftwaffe'' of the Third Reich had been disbanded by August 1946 by the Allied Control Commission. This changed in 1955 when West Germany joined NATO, as the Western Allies believed that Germany was needed to counter the increasing military threat posed by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Therefore, on 9 January 1956 a new German Air Force called ''Luftwaffe'' was founded as a branch of the new ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defence Force). Many well-known fighter pilots who had fought with the ''Luftwaffe'' of the Wehrmacht in World War II joined the new post-war air force and underwent refresher training in the USA before returning to West Germany to upgrade on the latest U.S.-supplied hardware. These included Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, Günther Rall and Johannes Steinhoff. Steinhoff would eventually become commander-in-chief of the ''Luftwaffe'', with Rall as his immediate successor. Another pilot of World War II, Josef Kammhuber, also made a significant career in the post-war ''Luftwaffe'', retiring in 1962 as ''Inspekteur der Luftwaffe'' (Chief Inspector of the Air Force). Despite the partial reliance of the new air force on soldiers who had served in the Wehrmacht, there was no organizational continuity between the old and the new Luftwaffe. This is in line with the policy of the Bundeswehr on the whole, which does not consider itself a successor of the Wehrmacht and does not follow the traditions of any other previous German military organization. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「German Air Force」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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