The Förderkreis Deutsches Heer e.V. [FKH: Association of the German Army] is a lobby organization for the promotion and support of the Bundeswehr [German Federal Armed Forces], especially land forces.₁ One of its main concerns is the “joint effort to create an efficient national industrial base for equipment for the German Army and the German Land Forces.”₂ The association represents the interests of more than 150 companies in the armaments industry, including Diehl Defence, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Lockheed Martin, Rheinmetall, and Sig Sauer, and also IT companies, such as IBM and Microsoft, as well as politicians, military personnel, and various consultancies.₃
 
Activist groups denounce politicians’ close links with the Förderkeis Deutsches Heer as an adverse influence on government policy. Above all, criticism is directed at the lack of transparency and the concealment of the fact that members both of the Bundestag [German parliament] and its Verteidigungsausschuss [defense committee] simultaneously hold positions within the lobby organization.₄
 
 
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