A Puma armored personnel carrier drives across the training ground during a combat demonstration.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin According to the Ministry of Defence, during the repair of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, which failed during a shooting exercise, mostly minor and medium-sized damage was found. In a few cases, they were more serious, the ministry informed the representatives in the Bundestag on Wednesday in a classified information. The ministry “continued to rate the IFV Puma as a technologically high-quality weapon system,” it said.
In the ultra-modern technology of the tank, computer errors can sometimes be corrected with a readout device. However, this can result in great danger, despite the certified high quality. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday: “Even supposedly simple failures can lead to death in combat. That is why it needs to be carefully examined. And we do.”
After all of the 18 armored personnel carriers deployed failed during a shooting exercise, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) had the Puma removed from a German NATO obligation in the VJTF rapid reaction force. The German soldiers reported ready for action are now equipped with the older Marder infantry fighting vehicle. She also suspended an additional purchase of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle.
In the briefing, it was explained that the failure of individual high-quality parts and fire damage would have to be examined further from a technical point of view. Restoring the armored personnel carriers’ full operational readiness also requires some additional work, “which is currently being worked on at full speed”.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Little criticism despite dangerous shortcomings
However, fundamental doubts about the system were not formulated. The armored personnel carrier has “undoubtedly very promising performance data and the ability to provide the troops with superior effectiveness in combat,” said the briefing in the Bundestag.
“For a war-ready system, this superior effectiveness must go hand in hand with robustness and reliability in use and operation,” explains the ministry. The experience available so far has shown that the highly complex weapon system in its current state of construction can only be operated with a closely interlinked technical and logistical concept involving the troops, army repair logistics, project management and industry – i.e. with better cooperation.
The head of the authorities is currently being criticized for various mishaps.
(Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker)
17 of the 18 Pumas have now been repaired. The armored personnel carrier was only declared combat-ready in 2021 and is being built jointly by the armaments companies Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). Doubts were expressed early on by the industry that significant technical problems could occur so frequently. Almost all of the damage was “trivial,” said a spokesman for the manufacturer Rheinmetall on Monday.
More: Minor damage and operating errors – almost all failed Pumas operational again