Germany will suspend new orders for Puma armored vehicles, Germany’s defense minister said on Monday, AFP reported, after operational problems again highlighted the malfunctioning of the German military’s equipment.

New German armored car PumaPhoto: dpa picture alliance / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia

“Until the vehicles are reliable, there will be no second order,” Christine Lambrecht said in a statement.

These new problems are a major setback for the Bundeswehr, she admitted.

The Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday that 18 Puma armored infantry vehicles had malfunctioned during German military exercises.

Army inspector Alphonse Mays spoke of a “serious and unexpected malfunction” in “difficult training conditions”, while the vehicles have so far proved “reliable in terms of operational readiness”.

The infantry fighting vehicles were to be used from January by the VJTF, a NATO “very rapid deployment” battalion.

“NATO and our allies can rely 100 percent on Germany’s commitments,” Lambrecht said during a visit to Slovakia. Berlin will provide the Atlantic Alliance with Marder vehicles, the older models that the Puma was supposed to replace, as an alternative.

The German army has many problems

In April, Christine Lambrecht already complained that more than half of the Bundeswehr’s 350 Pumas, made by Germany’s Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) groups, were not working.

The first Pumas entered the army in 2015.

On Monday, the minister called on the arms industry to ensure “very, very fast repair of the damage found”. “It is the industry’s duty to take responsibility,” she insisted in Slovakia.

This incident once again highlights the failures of the German army.

According to the 2021 State of the Army report, less than 30 percent of the Navy’s ships are “fully ready.” In the Air Force, a large number of military transport and combat aircraft are unfit for flight.

Therefore, Berlin created a special fund of 100 billion euros to modernize its equipment.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the end of September that he wanted Germany to have “the best equipped armed forces in Europe”.

On the same topic:

  • “It’s a bad setback.” Germany’s Puma armor malfunctions “will not affect” NATO’s rapid response forces