Der Tagesspiegel:
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Major General writes letter to Lambrecht: The Bundeswehr apparently has serious problems with the Puma infantry fighting vehicle again
A letter is said to be causing a stir in the Ministry of Defense. According to a report, it is about the total failure of the "Pumas".
The Bundeswehr has encountered serious technical problems during exercises with the Puma infantry fighting vehicles for NATO's "spearhead". During a training with 18 combat vehicles, the operational readiness dropped to zero within a few days, reports the "Spiegel".
The magazine referred to a letter from the commander of the 10th Armored Division Major General Ruprecht von Butler to the leadership of the Army and the Ministry of Defense.
According to information from the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the maneuver took place at the firing practice center of the tank force and the letter caused a stir in the Ministry of Defense since Friday. That's because the new breakdowns concern vehicles in a special configuration with which the Panzergrenadier Brigade 37, which is subordinate to Buttlar, is to participate in the alliance's VJTV force (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force) starting in the new year.
Spiegel" reports a total failure after reading the letter. The last two "Pumas" that were still operational also failed "on yesterday's firing day after one and a half hours with turret defects," the general wrote according to the report. [Skybird: 18 Pumas went into the exercise, after the second day, all of them were out of action due to internal technical problems].
According to the report, the electronics of the high-tech tanks are particularly susceptible, and in one tank there was even a serious cable fire in the driver's compartment.
The type of defects had already been known to the troops, the mail said, but they had "never occurred with such frequency." At the same time, the systems had only been moved on firing ranges in the northern German lowlands, where they had "not been subjected to excessive stress."
According to the estimate of the harness master of the affected company, which he considers very credible, the general writes, it can be assumed that the company will not be fully operational again for another three to four months.
The Puma infantry fighting vehicle, plagued by numerous technical problems, had only been declared combat-ready last year. Developed and produced by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH (RLS), the combat vehicle had previously made headlines as a "breakdown tank."
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Oh my, how much I always have loved this hyped super-dooper-mega tank. Practically every time I have read about it, it was something negative. And that still has not changed. But being the most expensive infantry fighting vehicle in the world.
No one wants to buy it.
And then the crutch linkage on the gun without which the thing always warped....
But it is pregnant-soldieress-safe and fetusses will not suffer from exhaust gas in the cabin. Maybe they should turn the remaining Pumas into ambulance cars.
As the Spiegel put it:
In the Bundeswehr, good news usually lasts as long as a chocolate mousse under the African sun. 