Lambrecht: The tank test shortly before the NATO order was correct

Created: 12/21/2022, 12:21 p.m

Christine Lambrecht (left) during her visit to the German Bundeswehr soldiers stationed in Slovakia in Lest (mountain infantry).

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The Minister of Defense gave the manufacturers of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle "a few weeks" to eliminate problems with the vehicle.

She complains that the weapon system is vulnerable.

After the breakdown in the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht rejected criticism from the Union that the stress test was carried out too late.

With a view to Germany's participation in the NATO intervention force VJTF, which begins on January 1, the exercise was scheduled exactly right, the SPD politician explained on Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday.

"That's why an exercise months beforehand would not have helped us at all, because such exercises were very promising," says Lambrecht.

During the shooting exercise, all 18 Pumas used were out within a few days.

Lambrecht decided not to buy any more Pumas until the weapon system was stable.

In addition, the older Marder and not the modern Puma tanks are to be used for the NATO order.

The tracked vehicle, plagued by numerous technical problems, was only declared fit for combat last year.

Lambrecht gave the industry a tight time window for repairs.

"I'll give them a few weeks.

Because I need reliable systems and not ones that I might be able to use sometime in 2025," she said.

The industry knows that this project has no future if it does not show the government a perspective.

Everyone knows that the cougar is vulnerable.

It cannot go on without the appropriate changes being made.

Otherwise you have to look around for other systems, "and they exist".

Manufacturers check defective tanks

The Puma is a combat vehicle developed and produced by Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH (RLS) and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).

The defective tanks are now being checked for precise damage patterns by the two companies at locations in Bavaria and Lower Saxony.

Problems with the electronics and the sensors are stored in a logbook and can be read out, and purely mechanical defects must also be inspected.

Together with the official and industrial partners, KMW has agreed on an initiative for the fastest possible analysis and repair, said a KMW spokesman.

“The primary goal of the initiative is to make the Puma infantry fighting vehicle operational and available again as quickly as possible.

KMW has already mobilized the capacities required for this.”

First of all, it is necessary "to gain access to the vehicles in order to examine them in detail".

Reliable statements on the type and scope of the work can only then be made.

The spokesman said: "For KMW, the successful cooperation in the development and certification of the Puma armored personnel carrier is the guarantee for the permanent solution to the problems that have currently arisen." dpa