With 50-year-old equipment, the Bundeswehr is trying to save what cannot be saved. Because the new Puma infantry fighting vehicle is still not operational seven years after the first units went into service, Germany is now providing Marder tanks, which were introduced in the 1970s, for the NATO spearhead. An embarrassing embarrassment for a country that believes it is among the global leaders when it comes to high technology.
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht is not to blame in this case. It now has to justify itself to the alliance partners for something that industry, the Bundeswehr leadership and previous federal governments screwed up.
Because the Puma is a prime example of errors in armaments projects of the past: An expensive in-house development with the highest technological demands is constantly being overloaded with new requirements. This also fulfills the last wish of the army command, but the industry is overwhelmed. In the end, it may be one of the best armored personnel carriers in the world on paper, but there is a pile of metal on the training ground that drives the soldiers to despair.
The list could go on – it was a similar story with the Tiger and NH 90 helicopters, the A400M transport aircraft and the world’s best military backpack, the development of which Lambrecht stopped after eight years.
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Scholz: Alliance partners can rely on Germany
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Defense Minister have assured that the alliance partners can rely on Germany. This is not the case with military equipment, as the Puma debacle once again shows. On the contrary: the Bundeswehr has a number of capabilities and is dependent on the support of the Allies.
The new report on the material operational readiness, which was sent to the Bundestag, reads in this respect like an oath of disclosure: There is a lack of anti-aircraft defense, artillery, ammunition or radio equipment, which not only triggers ridicule among the NATO allies. Missions within the framework of alliance obligations can only be guaranteed with a bang and a bang.
Chancellor Scholz has promised improvement in the turn of the century exuberance. By 2025, the Bundeswehr should again have a rapidly deployable division that can be deployed in NATO areas in the event of a crisis without first having to borrow the necessary material from all over Germany.
Given the existing equipment shortages and long delivery times in the industry, this is an extremely ambitious timetable. In three years, Scholz will not be judged by his words, but by his actions. With the recent breakdowns in the former prestige project Puma, he has come a step closer to breaking his word.
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