As of: February 24, 2024, 5:00 a.m
By: Karsten Hinzmann
Comments
Press
Split
Laser cannons from Upper Bavaria and self-propelled grenades – Ukraine is getting ready for the war of the future;
on land and in the air.
Kiev - John Hill is initially assuming the worst: the complete withdrawal of the USA from the coalition of Vladimir Putin's opponents.
In the Army Technology
magazine
he therefore celebrates a declaration of intent between Ukraine and the German arms manufacturer MBDA Deutschland on the production of missile systems.
At the same time, the government in Kiev is planning to produce German bazookas locally, as the online magazine
hartpunkt
reports: Dynamit Nobel Defense GmbH (DND), based in Burbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Ukrainian state-owned company Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC (UDI, formerly Ukroboronprom) are therefore examining the possibility of producing Panzerfaust 3 in Ukraine.
A corresponding agreement has now been concluded between the managing directors of the two companies.
Russia has to fear for its tanks in the Ukraine war even more than before - especially in urban areas, the most massive colossus is almost defenseless against the threat from ambush, as Sergeant Major Andreas Neidhardt explains in the Bundeswehr podcast Funkkreis
:
“The armored units often attack without the support of dismounted forces, even in towns where the infantryman feels comfortable fighting tanks.
There he has enough cover and can also attack targets from above,” says the instructor at the infantry school in Hammelburg.
In addition, according to his observation, the Ukrainians try to channel the enemy in the terrain: “Due to the circumstances, the Russians always rely on roads, that is, they always drive in a row, in convoy formation, and that is of course the optimal thing for destroying tanks. Squads that can then attack from the side.
The Russians also do not loosen things up like we do in the Bundeswehr.
They ride one behind the other like a string of pearls.”
The terror from nowhere: the Bundesehr bazooka
Panzerfausts were first used extensively in the Second World War, and were increasingly used - especially by Germany - towards the end, when there was a lack of anti-tank guns.
Tanks typically benefit from their ability to spread out across the battlefield and bring their weapons close to enemy positions or carry out reconnaissance at close range.
However, the tank is most effective in combined arms combat, i.e. when protected by grenadiers or infantrymen.
In this way they protect their blind spots, especially on the flanks.
The terror of the tank: a well-trained infantryman with a close combat weapon, such as the Panzerfaust 3, which the Bundeswehr also uses.
(Symbolic image) © Björn Trotsky/imago
Around 30 years after its introduction into the Bundeswehr, the Panzerfaust 3 is a popular weapon in the Ukraine war, reports
hartpunkt
.
There, the system supplied from the stocks of the Bundeswehr - in the latest version the Panzerfaust 3-IT DM72 A1 - and other nations has been used against armored Russian units since the first months of the war.
The Panzerfaust 3-IT weighs around 15 kilograms and is capable of fighting any modern Russian main battle tank - even with reactive armor - at distances of around 400 meters.
In addition, as part of German military support, DND was tasked with delivering several thousand more bazookas to Ukraine;
According to the federal government, 3,000 Panzerfaust 3 cartridges have so far been delivered from Bundeswehr stocks to the Ukraine war.
The comeback of the killer bargain: German high-tech is in demand again
The Panzerfaust 3 consists of the reusable handle and the cartridge.
The cartridge is divided into a firing tube and a bullet.
The bullet head is located outside the barrel, which means that the dimensions of the head can be selected regardless of the caliber of the firing tube.
It consists of two parts – the spacer tube and the active charge.
The spacer tube is extended against armored targets such as tanks.
It remains pushed in against soft targets such as trucks and buildings.
The handle is equipped with a sight and firing device.
Weapons production directly in Ukraine should be accompanied by a modernization of the weapon in terms of range and penetration.
The current version used in Ukraine is said to be able to penetrate up to 1,000 mm of armor steel including reactive protection.
Shortly after the start of the Ukraine war , Stern
celebrated
the comeback of this killer bargain: “In recent years, the bazooka has never been the focus of interest.
It simply wasn't 'fancy' enough.
And in fact, the Panzerfaust 3 is not an intelligent anti-tank guided missile (ATGM – Anti Tank Guided Missile) like the Javelin or the Spike, which the Bundeswehr also uses.
The bazooka is simpler, cheaper - but in special situations no less effective than an ATGM." Ukraine is now increasingly relying on technology from Germany and other NATO countries, which science has long recommended.
Military historian Sönke Neitzel assesses the situation in the Eastern European theater of war as difficult primarily because “in the USA the Republicans and parts of the Democrats have always said that their focus is actually China,” as he says.
In his opinion, Americans are more likely to see Europeans helping Ukraine.
“But we also know that without the USA, Ukraine would no longer exist;
and without the USA, Europe would also be unable to support Ukraine enough to continue waging this war.”
My news
Russia escalates tensions on the border with Finland and sends thousands of refugees
Austria's ex-chancellor convicted of making false statements - Kurz finds the verdict "not fair" read
Germany sends another warship to the Red Sea – frigate “Hamburg” with special armament
Is Putin sick?
Ex-secret service chief gives insight: read “One of the symptoms”.
Russia openly threatens to shoot down NATO jets – read “return of particularly aggressive attitude”.
“Like in the Soviet Union”: Insight into Putin’s brutal reading of the system
Ukraine's hope: Joe Biden and his arms deliveries
NBC News
reports from Pentagon sources that the Biden administration is leaning towards supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles - at the end of last year, the US began arming Ukraine with ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) tactical missile systems;
However, so far they have only delivered the older medium-range ATACMS.
Now the US is leaning toward sending the longer-range version of the missile to allow Ukraine to strike further into the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula.
However, uncertainty about US behavior will continue to loom over NATO and Ukraine - regardless of who will be president of the US in the future.
Ukraine is therefore planning to become self-sufficient in armaments and has now taken new steps, as the
Handelsblatt
reports: The arms company MBDA Deutschland and the Ukrainian company Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC (UDI, formerly Ukroboronprom) want to work together on air defense systems.
Both sides signed a corresponding declaration of intent on February 20th.
The content is, for example, drone defense.
Potential areas of the partnership also include research, development, production and investment in Ukraine's ability to ultimately procure these defense capabilities itself,
Army Technology
reports .
MBDA Germany is a subsidiary of the defense company MBDA, which is supported equally by Airbus and the British BAE Systems as well as by the Italian defense company Leonardo.
The company produces air defense systems of various ranges, but also weapons such as the Taurus cruise missile and weapon systems for the navy.
At the beginning of January, the MBDA subsidiary Comlob received a major order for up to 1,000 Patriot missiles worth more than five billion euros from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), the alliance's procurement and maintenance agency.
The company in Schrobenhausen, Upper Bavaria, is supposed to supply, among other things, rockets, spare parts and test systems to NATO.
Putin's new nightmare: laser cannons from Upper Bavaria
According to the MBDA company, the war with laser beams is beginning for Ukraine - with the “Sky Warden NNbS” (in German: Sky Guardian), the company presented its first laser cannon at the International Aviation Exhibition in mid-2022: “Sky Warden NNbS” uses a high-energy weapon -Laser effector as well as the guided missile SADM (Small Anti Drone Missile) and the French missile MISTRAL (Missile Transportable Antiaérien Léger).
The combined system of lasers and small rockets for close and immediate area protection, which was originally intended for naval operations, will in future also be available to land and air forces mounted on trucks.
The heart of this multifunctional defense system is the laser.
In addition, depending on the threat situation, existing systems of smaller missiles are also effective.
The SADM guided missile is intended to combat small drones and uses the technology base of the ENFORCER guided missile that is currently being introduced - it was developed in 2019 and can also be used against armored vehicles.
As a third effector solution for the immediate environment, MBDA relies on the sophisticated and market-available French guided missile MISTRAL.
Due to its range, high agility and rapid target activation, MISTRAL is particularly recommended for highly mobile use not only against larger drones, but also against a wide range of threats from the air.
For Jack Watling from the
Royal United Services Institute
for Defense and Security Studies
(RUSI),
these are all urgently needed steps: “If Ukraine's partners continue to provide its army with sufficient ammunition and training support to mitigate Russian attacks in 2024, it is unlikely that Russia will achieve significant successes in 2025.
If Russia sees no prospect of success in 2025 due to its inability to improve the quality of the armed forces for offensive operations, this means that it will have difficulty forcing Kiev to surrender by 2026.”