Bundeswehr to restore Puma fighting vehicles after breakdown

The German armed forces want to do everything possible to quickly restore the Puma infantry fighting vehicles' operational readiness, after having encountered serious technical problems with the vehicles assigned for NATO's Spearhead response force next year.

Together with specialists from the defence industry, a damage assessment will be carried out immediately, the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Eberhard Zorn, told dpa in Berlin.

The procurement office BAAIN and the Inspector of the Army "will do everything in their power to restore the Puma to a clear condition," said the General.

"We will fulfil the obligation to NATO from January 1st."

During a training exercise with 18 combat vehicles, the operational readiness had dropped to zero within a few days, Der Spiegel news magazine reported on Saturday.

The magazine referred to a letter from the commander of the 10th Armoured Division, Major General Ruprecht von Butler, to the Bundeswehr leadership and the Defence Ministry.

The manoeuvre took place at the tank troop's firing training centre and the letter has been causing a stir in the Defence Ministry since Friday, dpa has learnt. This is because the new breakdowns concern vehicles in a special configuration with which the Panzergrenadier, or Armoured Infantry, Brigade 37, which is subordinate to von Butler, is to participate in NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTV) from the new year.

Der 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.

According to the report, the electronics of the high-tech tanks are particularly susceptible: In one tank there was even a serious cable fire in the driver's compartment.

The kind of deficiencies were already known to the troops, the email said, but they had "never occurred with such frequency."

At the same time, the systems had only been moved on firing ranges in the North German lowlands and had not been "excessively stressed" there.

According to the assessment of the fleet officer of the company concerned, 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.

Inspector General Zorn said the VJTV units had his special attention. "Immediately after the news of the Puma's failures reached me after the completion of the exercise, I spoke to the industry that same evening. They will support us with their teams," Zorn said.

The tanks were initially still on their way to their home bases.

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 in German as the "Pannenpanzer" or the "breakdown tank."