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Marder infantry fighting vehicle

"According to the guys who take part in the battles in Kursk, the German Marder BMPs have proven themselves very well. A successful combination of good armor protection and firepower, the machine has good survivability, withstood a lot of hits from various types of weapons, most systems failed, but at the "last breath" pulled out the guys and got back into formation after repairs. In general, the boys highly praise this BMP, most of them are still in service." according to Ofiver Alex on Telegram, 16 August 2024.

Germany will supply Ukraine with 40 overhaulled Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), the manufacturer Rheinmetall announced on 11 September 2023. “The German government has commissioned Rheinmetall to supply 40 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Placed in August 2023, the order is worth a high double-digit million-euro amount. 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,” Rheinmetall said in a statement.

This will bring the total number of Marder vehicles supplied to Ukraine to 80. Delivery of the additional 40 vehicles is due to begin this year. “On 21 March 2023 the company already shipped the first twenty infantry fighting vehicles ordered by the German government for Ukraine. In addition, another twenty Rheinmetall IFVs were ordered in June 2023. These are currently being overhauled and delivered,” the statement read.

It added: “The vehicles being made available are overhauled Marder 1A3 systems formerly owned by the Bundeswehr. As early as spring 2022, Rheinmetall began restoring the infantry fighting vehicles to a state of immediate combat readiness at its own expense.”

According to Rheinmetall, the Marder combines excellent tactical mobility and impressive firepower with the ability to transport troops quickly and safely in high-threat areas of operation, the Marder infantry fighting vehicle is an outstanding modern weapons system. “Its operationally proven design features a powerpack in the forward section and a centrally positioned turret; the fighting compartment is in the rear, with a generously dimensioned ramp for rapid entry and exit. Maintenance is straightforward. Moreover, the Marder is specially designed for ease of use and maximum dependability.”

Germany initially provided the Armed Forces with about 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. Apart from the representatives of the post-communist Left Party and the right-wing populist "Alternative for Germany", representatives of all other parliamentary factions - both ruling parties and opposition parties - welcome the decision of the German government to transfer several dozen Marder BMPs to Ukraine and, in addition to the one promised by the United States, battery of the Patriot air defense complex.

Many in Berlin believed that soon Germany and other NATO countries will start supplying the armed forces with Western-style tanks as well, and later, possibly, fighter jets.

The division into defensive and offensive weapons is only conditional. This weapon is versatile. It strengthens Ukraine's capabilities for both maneuverable defense and maneuverable offensive. Such a technique allows to transfer reinforcements with considerable speed to where our positions are defended, where fire support is needed. Or, as it often happens, when they go from defense to attack. Or when there is a planned offensive. The operations conducted by Ukraine was due to maneuverability. At the same time, not only armored personnel carriers were used, but even fairly light pickup trucks. This technique perfectly fits into the concept of maneuvering offensive or defensive combat operations.

The Marder is a completely modern weapon for today's war. Their value lies in the fact that the amount that will be delivered to Ukraine allows to equip approximately a battalion. That is, it will be a combat unit equipped with one type of armored vehicle. And with regard to the modernity of these weapons, in principle, what Ukraine is fighting with, what Ukraine started to fight with - these were all samples of Soviet times, with some modernization.

At the government press conference on 06 January 2023, the chancellor's official representative, Steffen Hebestreit, said that it is planned to equip one Ukrainian battalion with German Marder BMPs, which will require approximately 40 such vehicles. Deliveries should be made in the current quarter. And the training of Ukrainian crews in Germany, which will last approximately eight weeks, will begin in the near future.

Gebeshreit could not answer the question from which stocks German BMPs will be transferred to Ukrainians - from the arsenals of the Bundeswehr, which currently number approximately 350 units of such equipment, or from the warehouses of the Rheinmetall manufacturing plant. Back in the summer of 2022, this concern offered to supply Ukraine with 100 such machines that were at its disposal. Then the German government refused. Meanwhile, 40 Marder BMPs had been sold to Greece, but the remaining 60 can be quickly canned.

How much it will cost to supply 40 such machines was not yet clear either. It is known that one Marder BMP, depending on the modification, costs from 890 thousand euros to one and a half million. Steffen Gebestreit named three possible sources of funding. One of them is a special EU fund created to pay for arms supplies to Ukraine. From the arsenals of the Bundeswehr, he explained, these machines can be transferred free of charge. After all, the chancellor's representative added, "there is Ukraine's willingness to pay for the supply of some types of weapons."

Marder is not a new technique, it has been in service with the Bundeswehr for about half a century, but it has been constantly improved and modernized. The latest models, along with a 20 mm cannon and a machine gun, are also equipped with anti-tank guided missiles. The compact 25-ton vehicle, which develops a speed of up to 65 km/h, is able not only to safely deliver 9 infantrymen to advanced positions, but also to hit tanks and low-altitude targets, such as helicopters.

Until recently, official Berlin explained its refusal to supply tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine mainly with two arguments. Firstly, the desire to act only in coordination with the allies, and secondly, the need to supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs.

The first condition can be considered fulfilled: the chancellor agreed to supply the Marder BMP with the presidents of the USA and France. But what about the second one? Why didn't Berlin think that Ukraine needed such military equipment until recently, but now it thinks otherwise? Steffen Gebeshreit referred to the so-called circular deliveries , in which European countries handed Ukraine old Soviet equipment that they had inherited, and in return received new Western equipment. According to him, stocks of such weapons and ammunition for them are running out.

In addition, the chancellor's representative added, "the military situation in Ukraine is changing, there are large-scale strikes by the Russian side that are destroying the infrastructure, so we reassess the situation in Ukraine every time and decide what the next steps should be, including taking into account the upcoming spring." Now, as he noted, the situation is rather "static", but "if the weather becomes better, if it warms up, then we anticipate the expansion of military operations."

Anton Hofreiter, chairman of the Bundestag Committee on European Affairs, a representative of the Green Party, which is part of the government coalition in Germany, however, believes that the decision on the Marder BMP is too late.

"If we had provided these vehicles earlier, fewer Ukrainian soldiers would have died, as Western BMPs provide much more reliable protection for servicemen than the partially antediluvian equipment that was supplied to Ukraine as part of the so-called circular exchanges," he said on the morning of January 6. - In addition, In this case, Ukraine could liberate more territories captured by Russia, and protect the civilian population living there from Russian terror."

According to the deputy, the government of Germany - the country that is the main manufacturer of Leopard 2 tanks - should now promptly take the initiative of joint European supplies of such armored vehicles to Ukraine. Liberals, who are also part of the ruling coalition, actively support this idea. "The one who wants the end of this war must give Ukraine what it needs to win. Only the victory of Ukraine can restore peaceful order in Europe," the head of the youth organization of liberals, Franziska Brandmann, is convinced.

Carlo Masala, a professor from the Bundeswehr University in Munich, called the German government's decision correct, albeit belated: "If Ukraine had received the Marder BMP last summer, it would have already advanced further." At the same time, he noted, these deliveries open the door for others: "In a couple of months, we will probably be talking about combat planes and combat tanks."

The head of the Bundestag defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, insists that now, without waiting for a decision on Leopard 2 tanks, training of Ukrainian crews to work with such equipment should begin.

Can the Marder BMP change the course of the war? No, they can't, even together with the American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Thomas Wiegold believes: "This, of course, is not the number that Ukraine needs, so their number will not change the situation in any way, but these are the first combat armored vehicles that the West is sending. I think , which is already a significant change. Everything will depend on where Ukraine places these vehicles - most likely, in certain areas of the front where intense fighting is going on, and there they can play a decisive role."

Powerful western tanks are needed for a real breakthrough. "Without main battle tanks, you cannot move forward, you cannot ensure high mobility and full firepower, especially during the transition to the offensive. For defense, you can do without them, but if we are talking about an offensive with the aim of regaining territory, then you need main battle tanks." - Austrian military-political expert, former head of the Institute for Peacebuilding and Conflict Management of the National Defense Academy of Austria General Walter Feichtinger explained.

On 09 April 2024 the German government comissioned Rheinmetall to deliver 20 additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to the Ukraine. The order was placed in March 2024 and has a value in the mid double-digit million Euro range. The delivery of this new lot is scheduled within 2024. So far, Rheinmetall has already handed over a three-digit number of Marder IFVs to the Ukrainian Armed Forces via direct deliveries and circular exchange programmes. The version of the 1A3 Marder that has now been ordered also features integrated laser range finders, which enable efficient and precise target elimination. The company had already supplied the first 20 of these combat vehicles to the Ukraine on behalf of the German government in March 2023. A number of further lots have since been delivered, each in two-figure numbers.

Rheinmetall acquired the overhauled 1A3 Marder IFV from the Bundeswehr. The company began overhauling the IFVs for immediate deployment at its own expense back in spring 2022. The corresponding work has since been underway at Rheinmetall's locations in Unterluess and Kassel. The Marder IFV, which was developed for the Bundeswehr, and is still being operated there, is one of the world's most proven weapon systems of its kind. Over the course of its service life, the vehicle has been repeatedly modernised and improved in its combat effectiveness.