Spiegel: 18 PUMA armored vehicles were out of action during the exercise

Spiegel: 18 PUMA armored vehicles were out of action during the exercise



Bundeswehr exercises involving Puma heavy armored vehicles in full failed. Experts counted 18 minor, 21 medium and one major damage that disabled all armored personnel carriers.

The first company of Puma was intended for the NATO Rapid Reaction Force. At first, the German Ministry of Defense blamed the manufacturer for the failure, but then the department had to admit that the problem was in the troops.

It turned out that the operators had no experience of communicating with the combat vehicle. The lack of logistics support and the insufficiently active participation of repair teams played their role. All Puma ceased to operate directly on the site of the exercises, and the games continued without them.

Armored vehicles were tested at the training center for tank troops in Münster (Lower Saxony). After the first days of breakdowns, the equipment was able to start up again for several days. But then "repair facilities were overloaded." It cannot be said that the malfunctions were serious, but their number overloaded the logistics system.

In particular, caterpillar elements, periscopes, main guns, drive cooling systems and electronic components failed.

The Bundeswehr said that despite all the difficulties in operating the Puma, the infantry fighting vehicle represents a "quantum leap in superiority in terms of firepower." Therefore, such a machine is the future, despite all the failures.

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