German lawmakers approved the purchase of 50 Puma infantry fighting vehicles at a cost of €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius raised the prospect of another order later this year.
(Bloomberg) — German lawmakers approved the purchase of 50 Puma infantry fighting vehicles at a cost of €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius raised the prospect of another order later this year.
Pistorius confirmed that the budget committee in the lower house of parliament had given the green light for the procurement at a meeting he attended Wednesday in Berlin.
“The order will now be placed very quickly — and then we will continue and hope to be able to make a second order in the course of this year,” he told reporters.
He described the Puma as “a quantum leap” in terms of troop protection, effectiveness and mobility.
The order is part of a broader push to modernize Germany’s armed forces triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
After Kremlin forces attacked last year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the creation of a special fund worth €100 billion to try to reverse years of underinvestment in the military.
The first batch of Pumas — which are made jointly by Rheinmetall AG and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co.
KG — is expected to be delivered next year, according to Marcus Faber, a defense spokesman from the Free Democrats, a junior partner in Scholz’s three-party ruling coalition.
As soon as the new combat vehicles have arrived, the German army could supply Ukraine with older infantry fighting vehicles like Rheinmetall’s Marder to help with its defense against Russia’s invasion, Faber suggested.
Germany and the US in January announced that they would send infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks to Ukraine to help its forces push back against an expected Russian spring offensive.
(Updates with defense minister comments starting in first paragraph)
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