Additional Marders are planned to be delivered during this year.
Illustrative photo: Marder infantry fighting vehicle
The German defense concern Rheinmetall received from the government 0, DW reports with reference to the company's press release.
Orders for the mid-double-digit million were awarded in March, and additional infantry fighting vehicles will be delivered to Kyiv throughout this year.
Rheinmetall has already transferred three-digit quantities of Marderto Ukraine through direct and circular deliveries. The 1A3 model ordered by the German government additionally has a laser range finder for effective and accurate target destruction.
Rheinmetall handed over the first 20 vehicles of this type to Ukraine back in March last year. Since that time, several more batches of this equipment, each with a volume of double digits, have been transferred to Kyiv, the press release notes.
It is noted that the Rheinmetall concern received obsolete Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles from the Bundeswehr arsenal. At the beginning of 2022, the company began repairing this equipment at its own expense to ensure its immediate use. Repair work at the factories in Unterlüs and Kassel continues today.
Developed for the Bundeswehr, the Marder infantry fighting vehicle is considered one of the most effective and reliable infantry fighting vehicles in the world. During its use by the Bundeswehr, this vehicle was repeatedly modernized and strengthened.
Currently, the Bundeswehr has more than 300 Puma infantry fighting vehicles, which are more modern vehicles of this type and should gradually replace the Marder.
Also Germany will provide Ukraine with 180 thousand artillery shells as part of the Czech initiative. Last month, Germany already provided Ukraine with a €478 million aid package, not including support for the Czech ammunition initiative. The total cost of both support measures is more than one billion euros.
In addition, Germany has begun to look for additional Patriot systems for Ukraine.