AFP extension
ANNOUNCEMENTS•
The German Defense Ministry is examining the armored vehicles of the German army, according to the German magazine The mirror reported this weekend that some of these Pumas are experiencing technical issues.
According to Der Spiegel, the Army has used eighteen advanced infantry vehicles for an exercise in the past two weeks. But problems arose during the shooting exercises, especially with the electronics, the magazine writes. In the last days of the exercise, none of the eighteen Pumas deployed would have been operational anymore.
NATO flash force
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Berlin speaks of a serious setback, especially since the Puma combat vehicles would be reserved from next spring to the NATO flash force, the so-called Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Vjtf).
This flash force was deployed for the first time this year to bolster NATO’s eastern flank defences. This happened in February, the day after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
According to the Defense Ministry, Germany will continue to fulfill the VJTF obligation by supplying NATO with older armored vehicles of the Marder type next year. The spokesperson talks about a fallback solution.
‘fast operating’
The German army inspector general says on Twitter that the army, together with specialists from the arms industry, will immediately start assessing the damage.
“We are doing everything we can to get the Pumas back up and running quickly,” he writes:
Puma armored vehicles entered the German army in 2015. The fleet consists of 350 units. Earlier this year, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German government approved a new order for an additional 229 Pumas.
On the place The Army says infantry vehicles of this type have “one significant advantage” over their “proven but outdated predecessor,” the Marder. For example, the Puma has a fully stabilized weapon system.
