The Joint Support and Enabling Service (German: Streitkräftebasis, pronounced[ˈʃtʁaɪ̯tˌkʁɛftəˌbaːzɪs]ⓘ, abbreviated: SKB, pronounced[ɛskaːˈbeː]ⓘ; literally Armed Forces Foundation) is a branch of the GermanBundeswehr established in October 2000 as a result of major reforms of the Bundeswehr. It handles various logistic and organisational tasks of the Bundeswehr. The SKB is one of six components of the Bundeswehr, the other five being the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Joint Medical Service, and the Cyber and Information Domain Service. As of April 2020, the force is composed of 27,840 personnel.[1] In May 2021 the minister of defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer together with inspector general Eberhard Zorn published a plan to dissolve the Joint Support and Enabling Service and to reintegrate its units into the army, navy, airforce and cyber command.[3]
The WBK headquarters were in Kiel (WBK I); Mainz (WBK II); Erfurt (WBK III); and Munich (WBK IV). Each Military District Command controlled 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 commands were in charge of all military facilities in their area of responsibility and of several supporting regiments. The SKB headquarters was formed on the basis of the former IV (German) Corps[clarification needed] headquarters. 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 and Enabling 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 Militärischer Abschirmdienst (Military Counterintelligence Service), and the Bundeswehr's higher academies and universities.
In April 2012 as part of the major reorganisation that ended conscription, the Armed Forces Operations Command (Einsatzführungskommando) was resubordinated directly to the Inspector of the Bundeswehr.[4]
In September 2022 another reorganisation created the Territorial Operations Command (Territoriales Führungskommando) from parts of the JJoint Support and Enabling Service, which also was subordinated directly to the Inspector of the Bundeswehr.[5]
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