Image of a German Armed Forces Puma (VJTF) infantry fighting vehicle. Credit: Boevaya mashina/commons.wikimedia.org.

The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that the Puma infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), which faced technical failures last month, have now been repaired. 

The announcement was made by the German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht on 13 January, in the presence of German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) inspector general Eberhard Zorn, and representatives from Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).

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The statement claimed that 17 out of the 18 Puma armoured IFVs have received the required repair works.

The MoD said that the industry partners were able to perform most of the repair works by the end of December last year. 

The associated work and analysis was supported by the German MoD and the Bundeswehr’s army maintenance logistics, or HILArmy Repair Logistics.

Lambrecht said: “The army stands by the Puma.”

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In December 2022, the vehicles, assigned under the German Army’s Panzergrenadier Battalion 112, encountered technical issues while conducting a multi-week exercise at the Bundeswehr’s shooting training centre in Munster.

The training was being carried out to prepare the troops for undertaking Nato’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) 2023.

Following this issue, the MoD decided to hold Puma vehicles’ VJTF deployment until further notice.

As an alternative, the German Army’s Marder vehicles were sent to fulfil the obligations of Nato’s task force.

The German MoD has yet not confirmed the exact date when the Puma IFVs will join the VJTF 2023. However, Zorn said that the vehicles are expected to join the task force in the next six months.

Lambrecht added: “We have to do much better in logistics. The training of soldiers must also improve. The troops should be able to use Puma IFVs reliably. After all, taxpayer also has an interest in a functioning system.”

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