Germany’s D-LBO, i.e., the testing of the German land forces’ digital radio systems, failed last autumn, as was noted on this forum at the time. Die Welt has published some secret test reports, and it seems there is room for improvement.
This means the technology is more challenging than one might think, and it’s great that Bittium seems to have these challenges under control. They just need to get more orders; unfortunately, different countries seem to be taking their time.
The German army is facing one of the biggest modernization failures in recent years. According to a secret test report published by the newspaper Die Welt on March 20, 2026, the new digital radio system for land-based operations (D-LBO – Digitalisierung landbasierter Operationen) completely failed in practical tests in November 2025.
The project, worth around 20 billion euros, was supposed to provide the Bundeswehr with modern, encrypted and networked communications that would connect soldiers, vehicles and headquarters in real time. Instead, an internal document revealed catastrophic shortcomings that, according to the army, pose a “Gefahr für Leib und Leben” – a direct threat to the life and health of soldiers even during routine training.
The tests carried out in November 2025 had to be ended early. The system, whose main supplier is the German company Rohde & Schwarz (with the participation of Rheinmetall and other companies), was rated “ungenügend” (insufficient). The most serious problems include the complete instability of the connection: there is no guarantee that a critical order – for example, to immediately cease fire – will even reach the addressee.
Voice communication is often replaced by “bubbling” and loud noise, so soldiers cannot understand each other. The range of action turned out to be significantly lower than required – in real terrain often less than 10 kilometers instead of the planned tens of kilometers of reliable range.
Other serious defects include extreme latency (in previous tests up to 59 minutes for the delivery of a single chat message), incorrect or completely missing position data, overheating of the device and complex control, which rather complicates the situation in combat. The document explicitly warns that the system is not suitable even for normal operation, let alone for deployment in a real conflict.
The question remains whether combat readiness will be achieved by the end of 2026.
The D-LBO project was supposed to digitize up to 16,000 Bundeswehr vehicles by 2027 and provide the army with technological superiority in modern networked warfare. Instead, it has become a symbol of the long-term problems of German defense acquisition. The opposition (CDU/CSU) is demanding the immediate submission of a full report and sharply criticizing Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.He promises corrections and software updates, but according to available information, no solution has been able to eliminate the fundamental shortcomings.
This failure comes at a time when Germany is increasing defense spending in response to geopolitical threats. Billions of euros invested in a system that does not yet work are undermining trust both within the army and among taxpayers.For the time being, the Bundeswehr remains dependent on older analog systems - with lower efficiency and higher risk in the event of a deployment. The question is: how much more time and money will it take for the German military to acquire the 21st century communications technology on which its entire modernization relies?