Operational readiness to zero – fire letter names new serious problems with the infantry fighting vehicle “Puma”
A Puma armored personnel carrier drives across a training ground in preparation for an information training exercise
Source: dpa/Philipp Schulze
The infantry fighting vehicle “Puma” plays a central role in the army. According to “Spiegel”, the Bundeswehr has encountered serious new technical problems during exercises for NATO’s “Spearhead”. There is “considerable unrest” in Christine Lambrecht’s (SPD) Ministry of Defense.
EAnother problem in the area of hapless Secretary of Defense Christine Lambrecht. And what a thing. On Monday, the SPD politician will have to deal with a total failure. And this time it’s not about ammunition or an order from abroad, like the confusion about the risks with the F-35 fighter jets.
It’s about Puma armored personnel carriers, which are produced by German armaments companies for the Bundeswehr, modernize the army and play an important role in Germany’s NATO contribution.
Just a year ago, Lieutenant General Alfons Mais, Inspector of the Army, said in a Bundeswehr video that after deficiencies in an operational test in 2020, the Puma was “significantly” improved. “With the Puma, the army is on the right path to a modern future,” says Mais. The arms company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann shared the Bundeswehr video proudly on his YouTube channel.
Serious technical problems – “significant unrest” in the Ministry
But now, he reports “Mirror”, an incendiary letter from the commander of the 10th Panzer Division, Major General Ruprecht von Butler, to the leadership of the army and the Ministry of Defense caused ‘considerable unrest’ in the Ministry of Defense, according to the magazine. It reports serious technical problems. The last two “Pumas” still ready for action “on yesterday’s shooting day after an hour and a half with turret defects” also failed, the general wrote.
Above all, the electronics of the high-tech tank is according to the report vulnerable, in one tank there was even a serious cable fire in the driver’s compartment. The troops were already aware of the nature of the defects, the e-mail said, but they had “never occurred with this frequency before”. The systems were only moved on shooting ranges in the North German lowlands and were “not overused” there.
Readiness dropped to zero
During training with 18 combat vehicles, operational readiness dropped to zero within a few days. According to information from the German Press Agency, the maneuver took place at the armored force’s target practice center.
“You can imagine how the troops are now evaluating the reliability of the Puma system,” writes Major General Ruprecht von Butler. This cannot be compared with the usual reliability of German land vehicles, and we are talking here about vehicles that we had brought to a different – supposedly – more reliable level at considerable expense. This is particularly stressful for the troops who report to me.”
According to “Spiegel” information, the general relies on the assessment of the Schirrmeister of the company concerned, which he considers very credible. According to this, the Bundeswehr must “assume that the company can only be fully operational again in three to four months”.
The “Puma” is to gradually replace the “Marder” infantry fighting vehicle. The new glitches affect vehicles in a special configuration with which Butler’s Panzergrenadierbrigade 37 is supposed to participate in NATO’s VJTV (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force) troops from the new year.
The infantry fighting vehicle “Puma”, which was plagued by numerous technical problems, was only declared fit for combat last year. The combat vehicle developed and produced by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH (RLS) had previously made headlines as a “breakdown tank”.