Germany is delaying the transfer of MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) heavy wheeled armored vehicles to Ukraine, which Berlin promised to deliver as early as January 2024. In total, Germany planned to transfer up to 400 MRAPs to Ukraine.
This is reported by Bild with reference to the spokesman of the German Ministry of Defense, as well as the classified documents of the defense department available to the editorial office.
According to the publication, in September 2023, Ukraine concluded a contract with the German engineering company Flensburger Fahrzeugbau GmbH (FFG) for the supply of 400 MRAP armored vehicles. This €315 million deal is financed by Germany.
Armored vehicles were to be delivered to Ukraine in batches of 20 units from January to October 2024 — that is, 200 vehicles in 10 months. However, the transmission has not yet started. From the planned 200 machines for the year, the volume of deliveries was reduced to 100, and the start of the transfer — from January to May-June 2024.
Licensing and certification issues are likely causes of such outages. Spare parts for the production of MRAP armored vehicles are supplied by FFG from the USA. The company faced license restrictions for exports from the States to Germany, as well as problems with mine protection certification.
According to the publication, these vehicles are converted BATT UMG civilian vehicles produced by the American company The Armored Group (TAG). However, the German company re-equips these vehicles with FFG MRAP armored vehicles and declares them fairly reliable protection against bullets and mines, however, as the publication notes, none of the mine resistance tests conducted so far have been successful.
- Germany is a European leader in helping Ukraine resist the Russian invasion. Just this month, Germany announced the transfer to Ukraine of air defense systems, BMPs, drones, rifles, ammunition, as well as electricity generators, which were so necessary for civilians after Russian attacks on critical infrastructure.
- Last week , the German government took the initiative to strengthen Ukrainian air defense. German high-ranking officials appealed to NATO and EU countries to find new air defense systems for Ukraine as soon as possible.
- The very next day, the head of the arms manufacturer Diehl Defense, Helmut Rauch, said in a comment to Bild that his company would hand over another IRIS-T anti-missile system to Ukraine to strengthen air defense. And a little earlier, the German Ministry of Defense announced the immediate transfer of the Patriot launcher and missiles to the existing air defense systems to Ukraine.
- Also, at the beginning of this month, it was reported that the German government ordered 20 more Marder BMPs for Ukraine from Rheinmetall.