BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2022) The German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, detected multiple technical issues with the Puma infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday, citing a letter by an army commander, Ruprecht von Butler.
Puma IFVs were to be used by the NATO Response Force, according to the newspaper. However, a shooting and combat test showed that all 18 Pumas deployed were not combat-ready, the report said.
Two vehicles, which were still in service after the shooting test, reportedly failed during a maneuver after an hour and a half due to turret defects. A cable also caught fire in the driver's compartment in one of the IFVs. The electronics of high-tech vehicles proved to be especially vulnerable, the letter read.
"Of the 18 (Puma) infantry fighting vehicles the unit began service with, during the last eight days of training, the readiness dropped to 0 infantry fighting vehicles," Der Spiegel quoted the letter as saying.
The troops already knew about the issues, the commander noted in the letter seen by the newspaper, but they "never arose with such a frequency." At the same time, Butler said that the vehicles had been previously used only at training grounds in the lowland and were not subjected to excessive loads.
Butler warned that the operational readiness of Pumas was becoming a "lottery" even with good training, Der Spiegel said.
Puma is an air transportable IFV with a remotely controlled uninhabited turret and a compact combat compartment. Puma's crew includes nine people.
