Responsibility for the malfunction of infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) Puma, which are in service with the German army, lies with the Bundeswehr. This is reported by the newspaper Bild in an article dated January 22.
According to the publication, the country’s military leadership was supposed to send the Puma BMP for maintenance in October last year, but never did so. However, the vehicles were still registered as NATO military equipment.
In addition, according to journalists, inexperienced mechanics were sent to the exercises with the BMP, because of which several vehicles were found to be out of order after the failure of the heating system. At the same time, to restore it, it was only necessary to add liquid.
According to the publication, German mechanics specializing in the repair of this type of infantry fighting vehicle were resting at that moment due to overwork.
At the same time, as noted in the publication, the German Ministry of Defense tried to shift the responsibility for the failure of the BMP to the manufacturer.
On December 23 last year, the former head of the German Ministry of Defense, Christina Lambrecht, said that the department was considering completely abandoning the purchase of Puma infantry fighting vehicles for the German army in the future.
It was noted that the key reason for raising this issue was the unsatisfactory technical condition of 18 of these vehicles, which were to be made available to the NATO Rapid Reaction Force next year.
On December 19, Der Spiegel magazine reported that the German Ministry of Defense had refused to purchase new Puma infantry fighting vehicles due to problems with their technical condition. Lambrecht stressed that until the technical malfunctions are completely corrected, the department will not purchase the next batch of infantry fighting vehicles.
At the same time, the magazine, citing a letter from the division commander, Major General Ruprecht von Butler, wrote that none of the 18 Puma combat vehicles were able to participate in hostilities in the 10th tank brigade of the German Armed Forces. According to him, over the past eight days of the exercise, the operational readiness of 18 infantry fighting vehicles has fallen to zero.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted on December 1 that the German Armed Forces faced a severe shortage of ammunition for their weapons due to the incorrect course of the government in recent decades. According to him, the reasons lie not only in the great military support of Ukraine, but also in their own mistakes in assessing the combat capability of the German army. Scholz added that Lambrecht was “very interested in filling this gap”.
