As of: January 24, 2024, 2:00 p.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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Rheinmetall reports another major order from Boris Pistorius' Ministry of Defense.
It's about the Bundeswehr's Puma.
Düsseldorf – In quick succession: Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is pushing ahead with the retrofitting and upgrading of the Bundeswehr in the context of the Ukraine war.
Bundeswehr: Defense Minister Pistorius orders ammunition for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle
As Rheinmetall announced on its website, the Bundeswehr has commissioned the Düsseldorf-based arms company to manufacture and supply medium-caliber ammunition for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle.
The German armed forces ordered several hundred thousand 30mm x 173 DM21 cartridges from a framework agreement.
The Rhineland arms manufacturer said the order value for this combat ammunition was over 350 million euros gross.
As long as it is proven to be working properly, delivery will begin this year.
According to the group, it should be completed by 2027.
Federal Defense Minister: Boris Pistorius (left) from the SPD.
© IMAGO / Kirchner Media
The Puma is equipped with Rheinmetall's MK30-2/ABM (airburst ammunition) machine cannon.
The Bundeswehr had a total of 350 of the armored personnel carriers in its inventory by May 2023.
Then, at Pistorius's instigation, the budget committee of the German Bundestag confirmed the purchase of 50 more Pumas, even though the model had had technical problems and even the failure of entire tanks in the past.
This order from the traffic light federal government alone amounts to 1.5 billion euros.
Bundeswehr under Boris Pistorius: large orders for tanks and the air force
At the time, Pistorius spoke of a “quantum leap in terms of protecting soldiers in action.”
How many of the new armored personnel carriers have already been delivered has not been communicated.
The Budget Committee of the German Bundestag had already approved the template for an extensive procurement of 30-millimeter medium-caliber ammunition on November 30, 2022.
But this has only now been ordered.
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There are many examples of how the procurement of heavy equipment and ammunition for the troops under Pistorius is progressing step by step.
In mid-January it became known that the Bundeswehr had also ordered 476,280 decoys (flares) with infrared seekers against guided missiles for the German Air Force from Rheinmetall.
Costs: 59 million euros.
But that's not all: at the end of March 2023, the Ministry of Defense announced that the Bundeswehr would receive more than 100 new Boxer wheeled armored vehicles.
At the end of May 2023, at the suggestion of the Pistorius Ministry, the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag also approved the purchase of 18 modern Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks (delivered in 2025 and 2026) to replace the same number of 2A6s delivered to Ukraine.
Bundeswehr: Pistorius triggers debate about soldiers without German passports
After the Budget Committee had already approved the purchase of ten 2000 self-propelled howitzers in March 2023 to replace the examples delivered to Kiev, twelve additional self-propelled tracked howitzer systems were ordered for the Bundeswehr in May.
In July, the Bundeswehr, in cooperation with the Dutch armed forces, also ordered 3,058 “Caracal” military vehicles from Rheinmetall.
While Germany, Great Britain and France have recently significantly increased arms deliveries to Ukraine, Pistorius has now also suggested Bundeswehr soldiers without a German passport in order to fill existing personnel gaps in the force.
(pm)