Parliamentary commissioner Eva Hoegl applauded improvements in the last three years, as Germany looks to massively boost defence spending in the face of US threats to withdraw its European security guarantees.

But she added: "We are still not there and there is still a lot to do."

"I can say again this year that the Bundeswehr (armed forces) still has too little of everything," she said at the presentation of an annual report on the state of the military.

Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz has emphasised the need to become independent from the United States in defence after President Donald Trump's open overtures to Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

"We are all concerned by the course the United States is on," Hoegl said.

"That makes it more important than ever that we have a Bundeswehr which is fully operationally ready, to establish a credible deterrent".

A 100-billion-euro ($109-billion) special fund established in the wake of Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine had supported initiatives to improve recruitment, develop infrastructure and speed up new weapons procurement, the report said.

But the results were in many cases "not yet visible, noticeable or measurable", while the special fund had largely been used up.

"In order for the important projects started through the special fund to be completed or continued, an increase in the regular defence budget is essential," the report concluded.

Further investments to fix "far from sufficient" personnel numbers and sometimes "disastrous" army infrastructure were vital.

- Ageing army -

Sufficient numbers of personnel ready for deployment was "the key to the defence capability of our Bundeswehr", Hoegl said.

But despite efforts to tempt more Germans into service, there were still only 181,174 active soldiers in 2024, some 340 fewer than in the previous year.

The average age of personnel meanwhile rose to 34 years in 2024 from 32.4 a year previous.

"I will repeat what I said last year: the Bundeswehr is shrinking and getting older," Hoegl said, while playing down the possibility of reintroducing compulsory military service.

On infrastructure, she singled out the issue of securing barracks, after a spate of recent drone sightings around military installations.

Germany has been on high alert to the risk of sabotage and other so-called hybrid attacks, which they suspect may be guided by Russia.

Germany's military needed to be better prepared against potential espionage, Hoegl said, including "better fences,... more security personnel and an effective approach to drones".

- Spending plans -

The process of renewing the German military was similar to turning round a "tanker", Hoegl said in the report.

"It takes time to procure tanks, ships and aircraft or to modernise entire barracks."

The sense of urgency around the Bundeswehr has grown with Trump's return to the White House and his questioning of the US's traditional commitment to European security.

Merz and his prospective coalition partners from the centre-left Social Democrats have proposed a change to Germany's strict constitutional debt brake to partially exempt defence spending.

The move could see Germany roughly double its spending on the military to 100 billion euros a year, by some estimates, and would be flanked by a special 500-billion-euro fund for infrastructure.

The plan however faces significant hurdles to make it through parliament with the necessary two-thirds majority, as other parties have appeared reluctant to back it.

Commenting on the developments, Hoegl said the Bundeswehr "still needs a lot of money".

"This money must then be invested in future technology, in drones, in satellites, in artificial intelligence, more air defence and digitalisation."