The German Federal Armed Forces once again faced serious technical problems during an exercise involving armored fighting vehicles of the Puma type, which are expected to be part of NATO’s new rapid reaction force next year.

During a recent exercise involving 18 Pumas, the number of armored personnel carriers in operational readiness was reduced to zero, reported the magazine Der Spiegel yesterday on Saturday. The exercises were held in an armored training ground.

The magazine became aware of the contents of a letter from the commander of the 10th armored brigade, Brigadier General Ruprecht von Butler, to the leadership of the Bundeswehr and the Ministry of Defense.

The content of the letter has caused an uproar in the ministry since Friday, according to the German agency.. This is due to the fact that specially configured such vehicles are involved in the damage, which will join the joint forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “very high readiness” in 2023.

Spiegel speaks of an absolute “fiasco” referring to the contents of the letter.

The last two Cougars, which are still operational, were damaged after only “an hour and a half” of live firing. After that, their towers stopped working, the brigadier general writes, according to the report.

The electronic systems in these advanced TOMAs are particularly prone to failure, with one of the machines catching fire in the wiring in the driver’s cab.

According to Spiegel, Brigadier General von Butler was delighted that the Cougars were causing problems and being prone to damage was already known to the armored personnel carriers that use them, but they had never taken so much damage in such a short period of time.

He stressed that specific weapon systems were only tested on test sites in low-lying areas of northern Germany and were never subjected to “excessive pressure.”

Brigadier General von Butler added that according to the officer in charge of the island’s vehicles, who is very reliable, the Cougars won’t be fully operational for three to four months.

Cougars have faced an endless series of technical challenges since they were officially put into service in 2021. It is significant that this particular type of TOMA, manufactured by KMW (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH, is mentioned in the German press section under the understandable nickname Pannenpanzer (“irreversible damage tank”, in free rental).

Source: DPA, APE-MPE.