The German government has commissioned Rheinmetall to deliver 20 additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to Ukraine, the company announced on 9 April 2024.
The order, which was actually placed in March 2024, has a value in the mid-double-digit-million Euro range, according to Rheinmetall, with deliveries of the IFVs scheduled for within 2024.
So far, Rheinmetall has already handed around 120 Marder IFVs to the Ukrainian armed forces via direct deliveries and circular exchange programmes.
The Marder 1A3s that have now been ordered also features integrated laser rangefinders that enable efficient and precise targeting. Rheinmetall had already supplied the first 20 of these IFVs to Ukraine on behalf of the German government in March 2023. A number of further lots have since been delivered, with the latest delivery of 20 IFVs meaning that 140 Marder 1 will have been supplied to Ukraine.
Rheinmetall acquired the overhauled Marder 1A3s from the Bundeswehr. The company began overhauling them for immediate deployment at its own expense back in the spring of 2022. The corresponding work has since been underway at Rheinmetall’s sites in Unterluess and Kassel.
The Marder 1 IFV, which was developed for the Bundeswehr and is still being operated by the service, is one of the world’s most proven weapon systems of its kind, according to Rheinmetall. Over the course of its service life, the vehicle has been repeatedly modernised and its combat effectiveness improved.
The Bundeswehr now has more than 300 Puma IFVs in operation, representing the latest generation of this type of combat vehicle, and so the Bundeswehr’s Marder IFV fleet is gradually being replaced. A second lot of more than 50 additional Pumas was ordered in 2023.
