Rheinmetall AG, The German Bundestag’s budget committee cleared the way today for the procurement of 405 new Puma infantry fighting vehicles for the Bundeswehr. For Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall AG and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG of Munich, the order represents a combined total of some EUR 3 billion in gross sales.
Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann each hold a 50% stake in the company tasked with the project, PSM GmbH of Kassel. Both hailed the decision as a crucial step in re-equipping the German Army for the future as well as being vitally important to the German defence industry and a whole host of medium-sized subcontractors.
With its unique balance of tactical and strategic mobility, survivability and lethality, the Puma gives the Bundeswehr a state-of-the-art infantry fighting vehicle systematically tailored to the current and future operational requirements of the German military both at home and abroad.
“We’re extremely pleased that the Puma has cleared the final parliamentary hurdle. This is the biggest single order in the history of our company, and definitely confirms our status as Europe’s top supplier of army technology”, states Klaus Eberhardt, Chairman of the Executive Board of Rheinmetall AG.
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Well-protected yet light enough to airlift, the Puma’s modularity and expandability make it the perfect tool for international conflict management.
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The Bundestag set the project in motion in September 2002 when it awarded a development contract for the new IFV, followed in 2004 by a EUR 350-million procurement order for five pre-series vehicles and related services. These vehicles are currently undergoing intensive trials. The first serially produced Pumas are scheduled to enter service in 2010.
Today, more than thirty years after Germany first fielded the Marder IFV, the Puma is poised to significantly expand the Bundeswehr’s capabilities spectrum, providing it with an entirely new category of tactical vehicle. In any international comparison, the Puma clearly represents the cutting edge in contemporary armoured vehicle technology.
Well-protected yet light enough to airlift, the Puma’s modularity and expandability make it the perfect tool for international conflict management. No comparable vehicle provides its crew with such a high level of protection from typical conflict zone threats such as landmines, rocket propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices.
The Puma features two different levels of protection. In the basic configuration it can be airlifted in the future A 400 M transport aircraft, and thus swiftly redeployed from one area of operation to another despite offering a high degree of crew protection.
The vehicle can be quickly reconfigured for higher intensity combat by adding separately transported modular armour elements, which provide optimum protection from landmines, shaped charges and medium-calibre weapons fire. Furthermore, special roof armour elements protect the crew from bomblets.
Other standard-setting features of this revolutionary vehicle include the newly developed 800 kW high-power density engine, running gear decoupled from the vehicle hull, an unmanned turret and programmable ammunition.
