39 tanks, HIMARS and ammunition: Germany covertly hands over huge shipment of weapons to Ukraine
Germany is covertly stepping up arms aid for Ukraine. This is demonstrated by a huge military package including tanks and HIMARS rocket launchers, which was delivered to Ukraine at the end of June beginning of July.
At the end of June and beginning of July, Berlin sent Kyiv an additional military package for the Ukrainian Armed Forces virtually in secret and largely unnoticed. Among other things, this involves 39 tanks and three HIMARS multiple rocket launchers from the German army and arms industry.
As reported by the German news outlet Merkur.
The journalists at Merkur analyzed the recent additions to the German government’s list of military support to Ukraine. Among other things, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received ten more Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks and twenty more Marder infantry fighting vehicles from Germany last week.
This brings the number of Marder vehicles supplied by Germany for the war in Ukraine to 120, and the number of refurbished Leopard 1 tanks (from the 1960s) to a total of 50 to date.
In addition to ammunition for the Leopard 1 tanks and the Marder vehicles, two additional Biber armored bridgelayers (previously 19), two additional Dachs armored engineer vehicles (previously nine), an armored recovery vehicle 2 (previously 17) and four additional Wisent 1 armored mine-clearing vehicles (previously 38) were added.
In total, Germany is working on the delivery of up to 105 refurbished Leopard 1A5s. Ukraine, for its part, is hoping to use the Leopard and Marder tanks to once again set up an offensive brigade for offensive operations, having conspicuously held back the remaining western tanks for months.
Air defense and HIMARS
However, according to the German Federal Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian army was supposed to receive up to 80 Leopard 1A5s by the end of 2023 as part of a jointly financed project with Denmark. This figure has been missed in recent months. This is also because the German defense industry says it has to gather the spare parts for the tanks that will ultimately be delivered from old tanks in storage beforehand.
The German government has also confirmed further deliveries to Ukraine in terms of air defense. Germany supplied an additional IRIS-T SLM air defense system (previously three) and another IRIS-T SLS air defense system (previously one) to protect critical infrastructure and cities against Russian air attacks.
One weapons delivery that has now appeared for the first time on the German list: three HIMARS multiple rocket launchers. At the beginning of May, following talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that Germany would pay for the delivery of three HIMARS missile artillery systems from the US to Ukraine. Thus, this new military package from Berlin now also contains these HIMARS.
Related:
- Germany bolsters Ukraine’s air defense against Russian missiles with third Patriot system
- Rheinmetall’s Ukrainian expansion is building a defense industry powerhouse
- German Foreign Minister: Ukraine aid is not “charity gesture” but rather “investment” in European security
- Germany may hold more basic training for Ukrainian army recruits
- Germany transfer over 40 trucks for Ukrainian border guards at front
