The armored personnel carrier is state-of-the-art, but has also proven to be particularly vulnerable. The Bundestag now agrees to a repeat order. Waiting would have made things even more complicated.
The budget committee of the Bundestag has given the green light for the purchase of 50 more infantry fighting vehicles of the type Puma, which was recently plagued by failures. On Wednesday, the specialist politicians voted with a large majority for the armaments program, for which the federal government wants to spend around 1.5 billion euros.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) welcomed the decision and spoke of a “quantum leap in terms of protecting soldiers in terms of effectiveness in action, but also, for example, mobility”.
“Need a robust system that is war-ready”
“Yes, the Puma had its difficulties, like any large weapon system that is being developed. It’s not a marketable product, but one that had to be developed over many years,” said Pistorius. “But we need a robust system with these capabilities that is war-ready.” The army spoke out insistently and emphatically in favor of the infantry fighting vehicle. Pistorius pointed out that a price-fixing period would have expired on May 12. Pistorius emphasized: “Then we would have had to renegotiate and then it would certainly have been more expensive and would have taken time again.”
The Puma is a combat vehicle developed and produced by Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH (RLS) and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). The procurement project was put on hold last year after all 18 armored personnel carriers used in a shooting exercise failed, but was then greened again after an internal investigation.
Federal Court of Auditors reports concerns
The state-of-the-art Puma replaces the older Marder infantry fighting vehicle, which has meanwhile been modernized several times and is still in service with the Bundeswehr. The “Handelsblatt” reported on Wednesday that the Federal Court of Auditors had expressed concerns about the Puma order and recommended waiting for the technical conversion to a modernized variant before purchasing additional copies.
After the decision to place a second bulk order for the combat vehicles (“2nd batch”), politicians in the traffic light coalition declared that the purchase was important for the modernization of the armed forces, even if problems still had to be solved with the infantry fighting vehicle. With a stipulation decision, however, conditions were imposed on the Ministry of Defense for further action and information obligations were imposed.
“Not an easy mix”
“The procurement of the second batch of Puma is associated with considerable financial risks. The system has not been fully tested technically. Nevertheless, the order must be placed now in order to close equipment gaps in the Bundeswehr,” said Green Housekeeper Sebastian Schäfer. The Ministry of Defense and industry are required to ensure the comprehensive functionality of the weapon system.
The FDP financial politician Karsten Klein explained that the security situation made it necessary for the Bundeswehr to get 50 more Pumas. “Especially because of the martens handed over to the Ukraine, the quick procurement of the second lot is all the more important,” said Klein. “However, it should not be forgotten that the Puma, as a major project of the special fund, still urgently needs improvements, which is why retrofitting and new procurement against the background of the Ukraine war is not an easy mixture.”
Source: Stern
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