LHBW EXPANDS ITS RANGE OF TASKS FOR THE ARMED FORCES

The LHBw has yet again been successful in an Armed Forces’ call for tenders. As a consequence, it will also be managing the personal NBC protective equipment and NBC clothing from 1 January 2009.

It will take over the central warehouse management in the Kappel depot and retain the staff employed there (slightly fewer than 40) as supply-staff, as it is already the case with the clothing and personal equipment management. However, article acquisition will still be in the remit of the BWB (Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement).

Some matters still have to be dealt with before the actual supply procedure can be set in motion. First of all, an inventory will be taken of the substantial stock and it will be one of the tasks to reduce this to the required size. Next, and most importantly, the new NBC mask M2000 will be furnished with a barcode to track its life cycle.

The first kitting-out with personal NBC articles is expected to be conducted from mid-2009 onwards. This will, however, not take place in the standard service stations for clothing, as contractual conditions do not permit their use for the supply of NBC articles. Kitting out and exchange will be conducted in vehicles employed by the LHBw specifically for this task and comparable to Mobile Service Points (MSP), which have already been running for some time.
The central control station will be Kappel, which will be upgraded accordingly.The soldiers’ equipment will be registered in their personal clothing account.

Considering recent experience with the LHBw clothing management, it can be assumed that, once started, the supply channel will work smoothly and well.