Rheinmetall to deliver another 40 Marder IFVs to Ukraine
The German federal government has commissioned Rheinmetall, a leading arms manufacturer, to supply 40 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The order, placed in August 2023, is worth a "high double-digit million-euro amount", Rheinmetall said, without providing specific figures.
It will bring the total number of Marder vehicles to be supplied by Rheinmetall to Ukraine to 80. The first 20 Marders were transferred in March, and another twenty IFVs were ordered in June.
Rheinmetall is pressing ahead with work to overhaul these older vehicles and ensure that the latest lot of Marder IFVs can be delivered as per contract starting in 2023, the company stressed.
The Marder is a German infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), developed in 1966-1969 by the German company Rheinmetall AG by order of the Bundeswehr. The vehicle numbers among the most reliable weapons systems of its kind anywhere. Steadily modernised, the vehicle has undergone repeated combat upgrades in the course of its career.
The Marder is armed with a 20-mm RH 202 automatic cannon and a paired 7.62-mm MG3 machine gun mounted on a carriage on top of the two-seater turret. Another 7.62mm MG3A1 machine gun is mounted on the roof of the troop compartment and is remotely controlled.
Rheinmetall earlier announced numerous contracts for supplying amminition, unmanned aerial vehicles, and armoured capabilities to Ukraine, as well as the setting up of a repair facility in Ukraine.
