Spiegel- Only 150 puma tanks operational
As a reaction to the Russian attack in Ukraine , Germany must now strengthen its own defenses, said the SPD politician. An example: “On paper, for example, we have 350 Puma infantry fighting vehicles, of which 150 are actually operational,” reported the minister. “It’s no different with the Tiger attack helicopter. Only nine out of 51 machines can take off.
Google translate will give you an English option to read this.
Nice move let the enemy what you have for weapons.Works every time.
You think the enemy doesn’t already know? You think they’re as dumb as the Germans?
So… Afghanistan has a better equipped army than Germany? (if they could figure out how to start the machines and drive them…)
They condemned and laughed at Trump for pointing out the folly of getting most of your N. gas, oil & coal from Russia, and for not spending enough on defense.
Still laughing?
I think not.
Time to sharpen those broomsticks.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=german+army+broomsticks&t=h_&ia=web
I am confident that NATO will deter aggression. While the historical model shows that in great power wars, where one power (NATO) has crap morale, low ammo, and, is heavily infiltrated by its enemy; usually is crushed, humiliated, and subjugated, it will not happen this time. Like Socialism, NATO is the highest form of military alliance.
The situation with our own military is about the same. RCAF acquaintance said they’d be lucky to fly 2 dozen fighters in a real emergency,and said the tank situation was the same.
Fortunately, Russia has their own issues. I wonder if China’s forces are in better shape. I’d bet they are.
To be fair, getting just one tiger to fly is pretty impressive.
The general rule is only 1/3 of mechanized equipment is battle ready. Anything with wheels, tracks, fixed wings, or rotating wings applies. This is why armed forces generally shun stuff that is obsolete and has no parts availability.
The rule of thumb for warships is you need three for every area you actually plan to deploy into.
One to physically be there.
One in transit to or from.
One in port getting a refit.
Those are your physical limitations and result in the media having orgasms over ‘discoveries’ that only 1/3rd of [insert equipment name here] is operational at any one time. SCANDAL!!!!
That is for warships being actively deployed in your country’s interests.
For land vehicles the mix is a bit different. Tanks are very rarely used to actively protect a nation’s interests in peacetime. Patrolling your oil/gas pipeline with a MBT isn’t normally a thing.
So the breakdown for peacetime should be something like ‘training’, ‘major service/upgrade’ or, in theory, ‘ready to go on short notice’.
Your Nation May Vary but the rational thing to do is to slowly rotate through the active vehicles to attempt to ensure they all wear at the same rate. I also accept that the rational thing to do is not drive vehicles just for the sake of driving them. This is why you have simulators in our modern high tech world.
We may be losing something in translation. 150 operational vehicles MAY just refer to the ones physically with units at any moment while the others are getting their standard maintenance cycle work or parked in the sheds.
150 out of 350 ‘seems’ low, but I feel we are not getting full context.
Of greater interest is the fact German only owns 350 of these vehicles.
I’d imagine the CF-18s probably have a 30% serviceable rate. I remember when I did some work at a sea king squadron the whole unit’s helicopters were unserviceable right before they were supposed to deploy.
A bit of misconception here. “Not battle ready” does not mean broken, inoperable or lacking spare parts. In the context of modern gear, it means preserved for when need arises and able to rejoin front line units in short order. That’s not an unusual practice. Having said that, Germany has reduced their ready armed forces to absurdly low levels.
Also Puma is an IFV not a tank.
The Russians quake in their boots at the mere mention of Armchair General Colonialidiot. General, your troops are ready for inspection:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32fc63b4109b79856e7ca566ee797d0970ada977a00e86b1d58fba910e934ad9.jpg
No Sir. In the Canadian context it means exactly that, broken, inoperable or lacking spare parts. Check the current VOR rate. its scandalous. Of course it could also mean that they cannot afford the gas. (Ask the Strathcona’s currently on exercise in Wainwright.) or they simple don’t have the ammunition. Armoured vehicles are zero combat effective without fuel or ammunition. And in Canada its cannibalization not preservation.
Paper tigers.
Puma.
Not a tank.
Interestingly, and I do accept that the Puma is not the only vehicle the Germans still own of this type, when Land 400 Phase 3 is finished here in sunny Australia we will have about 450 IFV to go with our MBT and 200 odd cavalry vehicles (Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles from Land 400 Phase 2).
Apart from the minor irony that the Boxer is a Rheinmetall (ie – German) vehicle, Australia is equal if not superior to Germany as a military power.
That little tit bit of trivia crept up on me.
The Tiger.
The ADF operate the Tiger. Doesn’t seem to have been a bad platform as such, just a very ordinary one. Our fleet is marked for replacement by AH-1 aircraft in the near future. The Tiger has been disappointing. I believe from casual observation that the engines have been less reliable than advertised and having picked a different variant engine from other operators getting spares has started to prove painful.
Interesting to hear the German aircraft have low availability as well.
Side story/urban legion:
There is a tale that crops up from time to time about the training simulator developed for the Tiger back in the day. Users would fly around a 3D environment which had a fair degree to interaction built in – which for year 2000 was an impressive feat.
Kangaroos were programmed in and they would react to your aircraft by moving away.
The story goes that a visiting big wig from another country was being show the simulator and discovered the roos could be interacted with and promptly started chasing them down valleys and over crests AND… was then attacked by a SAM ambush by the same Roos.
Turns out – apparently – that the code monkeys had copy pasted a lot of code from infantry models to make the roos. New graphic. Morale set to ‘flee’. Different movement speed. That sort of stuff.
Completely forgot to disable the weapons loadout and 1 in 20 or so of the roos were still equipped with a man/roo portable surface to air missile system.
Or so the story goes.
Not saying it is true, but more that I have never heard anyone deny it either.
Real roos do not carry SAM systems in such high numbers. Probably.
“Our fleet is marked for replacement by AH-1 aircraft in the near future. ”
I may be wrong but I am pretty certain you will be replacing Tigers with AH-64 Apaches not AH-1 Cobras. It is still very surprising as Tigers are very new and modern.
Germany; a once great engineering nation.
The wages of having women run your nation — Merkel, the worst chancellor since the Austrian painter and Von Der Leyen, the worst defence minister in German history, who’s now the EU president.
Gee? It sounds like President Trump knew exactly what he was talking about when he was bagging on Germany about their NATO Military funding and readiness. Do you think that Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, or Italy are much better?
=
Think back in the last weeks of February, before and after Russia rolled across the Ukraine border? Everyone in Europe was emptying out their military warehouses to provide Ukraine with ammo and military supplies. Germany was going to send them 7,000 Russian Strela Manpads they had stored “Ready to Go.” Except they were not ready, they were actually dangerous unusable junk, that had been stored in 2014 for later disarming and disposal. Getting rid of obsolete weapons with electronics, batteries, rocket fuel and explosives is expensive and DANGEROUS. Of course Germany put them in a warehouse for later expensive disposal. They can barely afford to pay their UNIONIZED soldiers overtime to participate in NATO Military Exercises with tanks and IFVs without necessary equipment like machine guns and training ammo.
NATO after 2000 was a joke force equipped with broken junk. Just like Russia. Just like the US was after Vietnam and under peace and butterflies President Jimmy Carter.
Remember how the uncared for, rotten Chinese tires on Russian vehicles fell apart a few dozen miles into Ukraine? Think German wheeled vehicles are/ were any better? Sure, the generals and colonels staff cars work, but are all the ammo and fuel resupply trucks ready for action? Think your Canadian military equipment is much better?