Rheinmetall’s Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle for Ukraine: German defence company Rheinmetall is supplying another 20 Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) to Ukrainian Army as per a direction from the German government, the company said on Saturday.
The contract for these 20 Marder IFVs was awarded last month while the value of the order has been estimated in the lower-two-digit million-euro range. The Marders are due to be delivered this summer.
Rheinmetall said that it has already shipped the first of twenty Marder IFVs to Ukraine in March this year.
Ukraine received a further twenty of these tried-and-tested vehicles directly from existing Bundeswehr stocks, it said.
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The defence company said that in addition to the Marders ordered to date, it can make a further sixty available.
“Work on this is already underway at Rheinmetall’s plants in Kassel and Unterlüß. Up to ten infantry fighting vehicles can be delivered per month,” the company said in a statement sent to Defence Star.
Rheinmetall’s Field Hospital for Ukraine.
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Germany’s Ringtausch Programme to support Ukraine
Under the German government’s ‘Ringtausch’ programme, Greece will also be receiving forty Marder IFVs. These too are to be shipped this summer.
The ‘Ringtausch’ is a multilateral equipment exchange programme designed to support Ukraine’s war effort in the face of Russian aggression.
According to Rheinmetall, in cooperation with Germany’s European neighbours and NATO partners, Soviet-era heavy equipment is being transferred to Ukraine in exchange for surplus Western-made systems.
Rheinmetall is taking part in various ‘Ringtausch’ exchanges involving the armed forces of Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia.
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Rheinmetall’s Lynx IFV for Hungary Defence Forces.
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What military equipments are given under Ringtausch?
According to Rheinmetall, the vehicles being made available under this programme are overhauled Marder 1A3 systems formerly owned by the Bundeswehr.
As early as spring 2022, Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH began restoring the infantry fighting vehicles to a state of immediate combat readiness at its own expense at its sites in Unterlüß and Kassel, said the company.
“Developed for the Bundeswehr and still in service with the German Army, the Marder infantry fighting vehicle is counted among the most reliable weapons systems of its kind anywhere,” it added.
The vehicle has been modernized regularly and it has undergone repeated combat upgrades in the course of its lifecycle.
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