Rheinmetall has received another tank order for Ukraine. The arms company will repair and modernize “Marder” armored personnel carriers. Rheinmetall had recently already delivered ammunition.
Germany wants to provide Ukraine with another 40 “Marder” armored personnel carriers in the coming months. The armaments group Rheinmetall is to repair used “Marder” tanks from former Bundeswehr stocks on behalf of the federal government, the company announced today. The order volume therefore amounts to a “higher double-digit million amount”.
The repair work has already begun at the Rheinmetall locations in Unterlüß and Kassel; According to Rheinmetall, up to ten armored personnel carriers could be delivered per month. Delivery should start this year. With the planned delivery, the number of “Marder” tanks delivered by Germany to the Ukraine has doubled to 80. The Bundeswehr had also provided 20 from its own stock.
More Billions in aid agreed
The “Marder” was specially developed for the German Armed Forces and will continue to be used by them, probably until 2030. In May 1971, the first models were handed over to the German Armed Forces. According to Rheinmetall, it is one of the “most proven weapon systems of its kind in the world.”
The other “Marder” deliveries were also part of the 700 million euro armaments package that the German government had announced at the start of the NATO summit in Lithuania in July.
According to its own statements, the federal government has already made 5.4 billion euros available for its upgrading initiative for the Ukrainian military this year, after two billion euros last year. According to the information, it has promised additional funds amounting to 10.5 billion euros as part of commitment appropriations for the following years.
Cheetah ammunition also supplied
The deliveries of other weapons from Germany’s largest arms company are also important for Ukraine. The company recently launched a first batch of urgently needed ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank. Rheinmetall was commissioned in February to deliver a total of 300,000 rounds of ammunition worth 168 million euros.
Rheinmetall has also repaired older Leopard main battle tanks and made them suitable for the front line, as well as military trucks, drones and a field hospital. According to a media report, the company also wants to work with Lufthansa’s technology division in the maintenance of the F35 stealth bomber. The cooperation is to be sealed on September 19th, as “Business Insider” wrote.
The DAX group is now at the top of the leading German index. In the past twelve months, the stock has gained more than 60 percent.