Ekaterina Girnyk14:06, 02/18/24
Lightly armored armored personnel carriers from the FFG concern were chosen as the most economical option, but in the end they paid three times the market price.
Germany supplied Ukraine with armored personnel carriers that were unsuitable for use in combat conditions. They were chosen as the most economical option, but ended up paying three times the market price, according to a Bild investigation .
As the publication recalls, at the end of May the German government announced the delivery to Ukraine of 66 APC armored personnel carriers, which are produced by the German concern FFG. These armored personnel carriers weighing 10 tons were developed in the USA and are produced in different countries of the world under an American license. Deliveries began in October; in total, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received 48 vehicles.
“According to Bild, they turned out to be completely unsuitable for the front lines in Ukraine and for use in combat conditions in general. They have thin plating and do not have anti-mine or fragmentation armor against artillery, rocket and mortar fire. The supplied APCs protect only from hand-held weapons and are suitable for rear operations,” the publication writes.
As Bild expert Julian Röpke found out, initially the German Ministry of Defense chose between light vehicles from FFG and heavy Fuchs from Rheinmetall, and the former chose “as the most economical solution, which is also quickly available.”
As Bild writes, the German Ministry of Defense refers to Kyiv, saying that “Ukraine did not require enhanced mine protection at that time.” At the same time, one of the Ukrainian officials told BILD that “of course, we would like vehicles with mine protection,” but “the German side did not offer them.”
Bild’s investigation also revealed that the German company FFG transferred the order for all 66 vehicles to the American contractor The Armored Group (TAG). As a result, all armored personnel carriers were assembled at the TAG plant in the UAE. From there, the armored cars were delivered to Ukraine only with a stop in Germany, so not a single armored personnel carrier was assembled in Germany.
“In addition, there were actually no savings. The prices of the state contract were inflated threefold: on the world market, APC armored vehicles from TAG cost about 200,000 euros, and the German Ministry of Defense paid 600,000 euros apiece for them,” the publication notes.
“We saved at the cost of human lives” – the opinion of German experts on the Bild investigation
As military expert Carlo Masala told Bild, such a lightly armored version of the armored personnel carrier hardly protects against the heavy fire that these vehicles are exposed to at the front.
“If it turns out that only a lightly armored version was delivered to Ukraine, it will be a pure procurement scandal. Savings have been made here at the cost of human lives,” he emphasized.
Bundestag deputy and CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter drew attention to the fact that the German authorities significantly overpaid for this purchase and called for both an internal investigation in the German Ministry of Defense and an external audit by the Court of Auditors.
“If it turns out that armored vehicles of poor quality were purchased and delivered to Ukraine at a price almost three times higher than the usual market price, this is doubly problematic. Firstly, the scarce funds of the transition period are burned unnecessarily. Secondly, this is done on the shoulders of and at the expense of the risks of Ukrainian soldiers,” Kiesewetter said.
Armored personnel carrier for Ukraine
In the middle of last year, Germany announced its intention to supply Ukraine with 66 new armored personnel carriers.
Initially, rumors spread that the arms concern Rheinmetall would supply its Fuchs armored personnel carriers. However, it later became known that FFG received the production contract. In response to a request from BILD, the German Ministry of Defense stated that after evaluating existing proposals, the choice fell on vehicles from FFG as a more economical solution.
Later, the German Ministry of Defense officially announced that there was no possibility of transferring Fuchs armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. As the head of the department, Christine Lambrecht, emphasized, the transfer of these vehicles will have a critical impact on Germany’s defense capability.
(C)UNIAN 2024
This is sooo messed up in a variety of ways. I indeed hope the investigation of this matter is thorough.
Sadly, that’s typical for the state of German defence ministry’s administration: Snafu!
However, I want to add some points not mentioned in the article:
– Media reports show that Rheinmetall is working at full capacity now. At least in Germany, an increase is difficult because of a shortage of qualified labor.
– Rheinmetall’s work at overhauling Leos, Marders, Gepards etc got the priority.
– The actual AFV is the much stronger armoured Marder, not the APC Fuchs.
– For transport purposes behind the front the TAG-APC is ok.
– The actual light APC of the Bundeswehr is the Dingo, which had also been delivered.
– Most probably, there wasn’t any vacant industry capacity in Germany to build additional vehicles there.
– The price of APCs available in the short term has certainly risen, because of high demand.
– The German ministry office responsible for such contracts sadly has a long history of increasing costs by insisting on additional details that vastly increase costs.
So, a questionable choice and a disturbingly high price, sure, but there’s some mitigating circumstances. The market situation isn’t easy now or else EU countries wouldn’t order additional equipment in faraway countries like Korea and Australia. Even more reason to put the European defence industry on a solid and larger foundation in the long term.
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