THE German government will suspend new orders for Puma tanks after the problems they experienced during recent military exercises, the Ministry of Defense announced.
“As long as they are not reliable, there will be no second order,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said in a statement. These “new injuries” are a “serious setback” for the Bundeswehr, the German military, he admitted.
During training sessions, the 18 Puma tanks used suffered breakdowns, Spiegel magazine revealed over the weekend. Army inspector Alphonse Mies spoke of a “significant and unexpected breakdown” under “demanding conditions” even though the tanks had so far proved “reliable” in terms of their “operational availability”.
These tanks were to be used, from January, by NATO’s very high readiness strike force VJTF.
Lambrecht emphasized that NATO “can continue to count on us to meet our obligations.” Germany would propose as a solution to use Marder tanks, older models which were to be replaced by Pumas.
The minister had already raised concerns last April, revealing that more than half of the German military’s 350 Pumas were not in working order. The tanks in question are manufactured by the German groups Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).
Source: News Beast
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