German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht sits in a Puma preventing tank (Reuters)
Berlin:
The German authorities mentioned Monday it should pause purchases of recent Puma tanks after a mass breakdown throughout workout routines, lamenting a “harsh setback” as Berlin seeks to overtake its army.
The armoured infantry automobiles — which had been speculated to type a part of Germany’s contribution to a NATO pressure — suffered issues that left all 18 of these within the workout routines unfit for operations.
The breakdowns shone one other harsh highlight on Germany’s makes an attempt to modernise its ageing army following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The most recent failures of the Puma tanks are a harsh setback,” mentioned Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht in a press release.
She ordered a probe into what went flawed, and mentioned till the automobiles show “steady” there will not be any new orders.
“Our troops should have the ability to depend on weapons programs which are strong and steady in fight,” Lambrecht added.
The Pumas had been speculated to be prepared to be used in a NATO job pressure for fast deployments from January.
Lambrecht mentioned that Germany would nonetheless fulfil its obligations in direction of the alliance, and as an alternative of the Pumas would use ageing Marder tanks.
A defence ministry spokesman mentioned work was being performed at full pace on “harm evaluation”, including there had been an “unusually excessive failure fee” with the tanks.
The army has 350 Puma tanks, however solely 42 had been arrange for use with the NATO pressure.
Berlin earlier this 12 months introduced plans to take a position 100 billion euros ($106 billion) to modernise its armed forces, casting apart a post-war reluctance to spend huge on its army to face the menace from Russia.
It’s also shopping for dozens of US-made F-35 fighter jets, however that challenge has run into issues, with the defence ministry elevating issues about delays and extra prices.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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