Over the years, Germany's armed forces lost their image of a potential enemy

The head of the Defense Committee in the German parliament (Bundestag), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, said that the modernization project of the German Armed Forces requires a re-inventing of "an image of the enemy."

A large sum of €100 billion has been set aside by Germany for the modernization of its armed forces, marking the beginning of years the German military needs to overhaul its capabilities in order to meet "the expectations" of its NATO allies, according to Strack-Zimmermann.

Read more: How is Germany planning to rebuild its military?

“What we need – that may sound belligerent – what the Bundeswehr needs from its point of view to act is an image of an enemy,” the MP told RND, explaining that over the years, Germany's military lost the image of a potential enemy, particularly since Russia was no longer seen as an enemy in the post-Cold War era, during what she called the "appeasement policy."

"Now we know what an enemy might look like; what it looks like in this case,” she said, adding that current developments mean NATO has to "adapt" to potential 'threats from China and Iran' and develop a strategy to deal with Russia.

NATO's biggest armies are currently fielded by its non-European members: the US and Turkey. France is the third in terms of military strength while Germany trails behind in fourth place.