Puma VJTF, German politics and the German press.
Just before Christmas, it was reported that 18/18 Puma's working up for NATO deployment has suffered "total failure" (Der Spiegel) and that Marder IFV's would cover the next deployment instead (good Janes follow up article).
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Just before Christmas, it was reported that 18/18 Puma's working up for NATO deployment has suffered "total failure" (Der Spiegel) and that Marder IFV's would cover the next deployment instead (good Janes follow up article).
1/
In to the new year and we now know the full detail:
One Puma suffered a genuine issue: A cable fire. This is serious and rightly being treated as such by Rheinmetall and KMW. The fire was detected and extinguished quickly by the crew and onboard systems (Tageschau).
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One Puma suffered a genuine issue: A cable fire. This is serious and rightly being treated as such by Rheinmetall and KMW. The fire was detected and extinguished quickly by the crew and onboard systems (Tageschau).
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Electrical/cable fires are an unfortunate and serious hazard in any vehicle with electrical cables. A quick google reveals incidents in the last couple of years with M1 Abrams, a RN vessel, a French helicopter... you get the idea. Scary stuff that crews need to train for.
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The other 17 Puma's issue has been quickly tracked (!) and described as 'bagatellen'/trivial, caused by lack of maintenance and training, easily identified, and rectified (Bild).
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We're still waiting for official confirmation what that trivial maintenance issue is.
Social media speculation suggests where sprockets were worn they either weren't replaced or the track tension adjusted.
Sprockets wear. It's a challenge with tracked vehicles, mil and civ.
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Social media speculation suggests where sprockets were worn they either weren't replaced or the track tension adjusted.
Sprockets wear. It's a challenge with tracked vehicles, mil and civ.
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This resolution does not mean that Puma will support the upcoming NATO VJTF rotation after all though, Marder will. Puma crews still need to complete the failed exercise and work up, and there appear to remain spares and maintenance challenges in the Bundeswehr.
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The one cable fire aside (and I'm not playing that down), this story is less about Puma, more about Bundeswehr funding and absolutely about German Politics and Press.
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Let's get Bundeswehr funding out of the way first. Maintenance/training is not a surprise. It has only been a few months since the Chancellor announced an intended €100B Defence injection* to correct years of issues here. Their challenges cannot be solved overnight.
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*and that announcement has already hit political blocks
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German politics makes the British parliament look organised and is a case study in why a nation should avoid coalitions and stick to majority governments. They have to negotiate with several parties to get a decision, some of whom may hold wildly different worldviews.
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They are also still within the generation who grew up, were educated, lived and worked when Germany was two post-WWII countries: East and West Germany. You can't unify everyone one generation.
Bluntly: Pro-Soviet ideals remain valued in some corners, and not just by Putin.
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Bluntly: Pro-Soviet ideals remain valued in some corners, and not just by Putin.
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So when a German pro-NATO endeavour such as Puma VJTF hits issues, you can guarantee that in the current Ukraine-invasion dominated environment that it will be amplified as much as possible by both German opposition parties and pro-Russia factions.
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This plays well with counter-Putin factions too. Some French/Brits experience schadenfreude when it comes to negative German news, even if guiltily, US and Korean industry "encouraged" accounts are also gleeful. Why wouldn't they be? They have howitzers and IFV's to sell...
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The Puma story is the second big Bundeswehr criticism of 2022. A conveniently paywalled Der Spiegel article of a 'leaked' Bundeswehr memo amplified within a few minutes by other outlets, clearly aware before publication, quoting the source article.
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This is then followed by a conveniently non-paywalled Der Spiegel follow-up article briefly announcing 17 Puma's were "quickly back in shape" before pushing CSU/Green party criticism of the SPD party and since-removed section lampooning Lambrecht's New Years clip.
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Notably, the Lambrecht section still exists on numerous other news sites versions of the source article.
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This is the same pattern as the PzH 2000 non-story earlier in 2022, where the 100 rounds/day criticism instead turned out to be a threshold term for "Hoher Intensität" (High Intensity Battle) and "Intensivschuss" (Intensive Shot) where different CONOPS and logistics kick in.
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This did not stop opposition parties, pro-Russian or competitive industry outlets howling in delight. Why wouldn't they be motivated to attack the governing party, undermine the UAF's belief in their artillery piece or to promote their own howitzer for upcoming competitions?
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The reality here is the NATO VJTF remains strong with Bundeswehr Marder's covering Germany's contribution and Puma expected to take over the following rotation once worked up.
There is no fundamental issue with Puma, with funding, training and maintenance remaining key.
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There is no fundamental issue with Puma, with funding, training and maintenance remaining key.
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It also gives you a whole new level of respect for the efforts involved in keeping the UK's older fleets going! Hopefully we can improve our own situation by easing the burden with newer fleets and carrying the maintenance expertise over.
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/FIN
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