German Armed Forces reduced to 150 000?

[seahawk]

HX Rheinmetall or Trakker Iveco.

[BansheeOne]

And now the most important question about the new Heimatschutz force - what kind of beret will they wear?! The Commander Territorial Forces just presented a suggestion in an all-new khaki color with the German Cross over crossed rifles, to indicate the joint forces character. Uniform pedants have already worked themselves up into a good storm of criticism. 😁

[seahawk]

The big German Cross and the rifles won´t go well with the leftists... Maybe more something with a Shield and the outline of city...

[urbanoid]

10 minutes ago, seahawk said:

The big German Cross and the rifles won´t go well with the leftists... Maybe more something with a Shield and the outline of city...

Or the red star and comrade Lenin. Or maybe Greta Thunberg, depending on the type of the leftist.

[sunday]

The skull of Greta, perhaps, in bright silver...

[TonyE]

1 hour ago, BansheeOne said:

And now the most important question about the new Heimatschutz force - what kind of beret will they wear?! The Commander Territorial Forces just presented a suggestion in an all-new khaki color with the German Cross over crossed rifles, to indicate the joint forces character. Uniform pedants have already worked themselves up into a good storm of criticism. 😁

Hmmmm.....large german cross on headwear, very reminiscent of the Landwehr and their "Landwehrmütze"......😁

[seahawk]

1 hour ago, urbanoid said:

Or the red star and comrade Lenin. Or maybe Greta Thunberg, depending on the type of the leftist.

Considering the normal patch

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommando_Territoriale_Verteidigung#/media/Datei:SichVersRgt_BMVg.svg

and the other Barretabzeichen

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barett_(Bundeswehr)

I think everybody was expecting something with a Shield and the Bundesadler.

[kokovi]

They should be Jägertruppe like all the security and infantry batallions were in former army structures. In light of the logistical importance of Germany for NATO in case of a war in Eastern Europe, it would be more prudent to form new reserve (pontoon) bridge and transport units. But the German reserve organization is a mess without any organizational purpose beyond reinforcement/replacement of individual solideres.

Edited October 23, 2023 by kokovi

[DB]

Needs to have a multicolour headband, for full inclusivity.

At least it seems that the sample image suggests the badge should sit where it belongs, over the left eye.

[lucklucky]

German defence minister says the German society should be prepared for war.

Quote

we have to be prepared for war, that we have to be able to defend ourselves and prepare the Bundeswehr and society for it.

Translated from French.

[BansheeOne]

Englisher report:

Quote

German military must be 'fit for war'

Ben Knight

4 hours ago

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said that the country's military must become combat-ready quickly. But that will require a major long-term overhaul, and experts doubt that will be easy.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned on Sunday night that in the current global situation, Germany needed to be prepared for war and able to defend the country. But that required a fundamental re-think about what the Bundeswehr was for.

"We have to get used to the idea again that the danger of war could be looming in Europe," the Social Democrat told public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday. "And that means: We have to become fit for war. We have to be fit for defense. And get both the Bundeswehr and society ready for this."

Simultaneously calling for more political urgency and defending his own record since taking up office in January this year, Pistorius rejected criticism that his department was working too slowly. "Much more speed would be impossible," Pistorius said.

A new military for a new threat

Prominent critics have appeared in the media in recent weeks to criticize the lack of political will to confront Russian aggression. Retired US General Ben Hodges went so far as to tell public broadcaster ZDF that Germany was in danger of losing the moral authority it had won from facing its Nazi history by failing to confront threats to the international democratic order.

But making the German army "conflict-ready" means not only reversing decades of money-saving reforms in the defense budget but also re-thinking what the military is actually for: In other words, fewer missions in foreign countries like Afghanistan or Mali, more focus on defending Germany and Europe. It is, some would argue, understandable that 30 years of relative peace in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the threat of the Warsaw Pact, have changed the nature of the German army itself.

"We can't just catch up with that in 19 months," said Pistorius, before adding that two-thirds of the €100-billion ($106-billion) special military fund Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced last year in his "turning of the times" (Zeitenwende) speech was now tied up in contracts. "The problem is that the contracts don't automatically mean production and delivery — all that takes time," he said.

That is true, said Rafael Loss, German and European security policy expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). "Industry orders take a significant time … industry needs time to ramp up production capacity, they need time to put together very complex weapons systems and integrate them into the Bundeswehr," he told DW.

But he believes a lot of the reforms that Pistorius has brought in are relatively shallow. "Both the Bundeswehr and the ministry are very busy tweaking at the margins, but the bigger overhaul and the plan for a bigger overhaul are missing," he said.

Aylin Matlé, research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), is loath to blame Pistorius himself. "I'd say that his predecessor, Christine Lambrecht, wasted a year of modernization, and did too little," she told DW. "The acceleration of a lot of processes came from Pistorius." On top of that, one cannot underestimate the financial burdens involved: Calculations from the Bundestag defense committee have suggested that the armed forces actually need another €300 billion to modernize completely.

"Of course, it's not just a question of money," added Matlé. "There's the question of personnel: The Bundeswehr has a recruitment problem. The army currently has 183,000 soldiers, and the aim is 203,000, but it's already clear that the application numbers have actually gone down. The Bundeswehr needs to make sure it's an attractive employer."

[...]

https://www.dw.com/en/bundeswehr-must-be-fit-for-war-says-german-defense-minister/a-67268608

[kokovi]

On 10/31/2023 at 8:05 PM, BansheeOne said:

Englisher report:

https://www.dw.com/en/bundeswehr-must-be-fit-for-war-says-german-defense-minister/a-67268608

A good start would be to fire half of the Generals and Admirals and to permanently cut those positions. Hold staff exercises including realistic logistics and communications to decide on promotions for Colonel and higher positions every two years instead of the political FüAk bullshit. Put all support units for brigade, Division and corps level back to the army, combine the remainders of SKB, ZSan and CIR to some „central military support organization“. Cut all the unneccessary staffs which do not actually have troops and form one German Corps which is enough for the remaining three divisions. And turn back the stupid rank inflation and reinstall the longer traditional career path for the NCO corps.

And to really demonstrate the very sad state of things, you would only have to disable the transfer of personnel and material in SAP and then immediately call an alert exercise in which the units have to actually show up on some training areas in the required timeframe. Then inspect them and be amazed by the differences between the reports and the actual state of things.

[BansheeOne]

First steel for F126 lead ship was cut on Tuesday, planned to be delivered in 2028.

Somewhat unnoticed by general media, defense minister Pistorius mentioned almost in passing at this year's Bundeswehr Conference on 10 November that he had ordered to have proposals for a new overall force structure made until Easter next year. He had so far avoided comment on the suggestions for a leaner organization with less headquarters and re-amalgamation of seperate branches like medical and logistics made under his pre-predecessor Annemarie Kramp-Karrenbauer, stopped for re-evaluation under Christine Lambrecht, on the grounds that another major reform while rebuilding neglected capabilities wouldn't be a good idea.

However, Pistorius noted that all existing commands and branches may be questioned in the coming proposals, indicating that re-integration of medical and logistics into Heer, Luftwaffe and Marine might go ahead. Cyber has already been trimmed down somewhat, and the Heer is of course currently undergoing re-organization with an emphasis on alliance defense. Presented at the conference was a new structure for the defense ministry, with sub-divisions reduced from 29 to 26 and ten percent of posts shifted to subordinate organizations. What else is in store remains to be seen.

[BansheeOne]

Musing about composition of future Panzerbrigade 42 in Lithuania on the Baltic States and Poland thread prompts me to look at development of the planned Heer structure again. Last year's org chart posted before:

We now know that an additional armored brigade will be established for Lithuania which will include Panzergrenadierbataillon 122 (shown here under Panzerbrigade 12) and Panzerbataillon 203 (from Panzerlehrbrigade 9). OTOH, on the Dutch side there are plans to procure "up to a battalion" of their own Leopard 2A8 again, which would likely replace Panzerbataillon 414 with its current single Dutch company in NL 43rd Mechanized Brigade. The Netherlands are also in the process of re-establishing two artillery battalions of two PzH 2000 and one PULS battery each, which is the fire support needs of their heavy and medium brigade taken care of.

Per a recent blurb from the Bundeswehr website, the German medium brigades are confirmed to include two Jäger battalions (three motorized infantry companies on Boxer APC, one heavy company with Boxer fire support vehicles and mortars) and one "wheeled Panzergrenadier" battalion (three companies on future Boxer IFV which will combine the 30 mm gun and MELLS of the fire support vehicle with dismounts). They will also get wheeled artillery in the form of RCH 155 and possibly PULS, if allocated to the brigade level. Panzerbrigade 21 and Panzergrenadierbrigade 41 may not keep their legacy names after conversion; 21 has moved to be redesignated a cavalry brigade.

The chart shows a Panzergrenadier battalion at the national training center under current Panzergrenadierbrigade 41 and a third German maneuver battalion in the Franco-German Brigade as "to be confirmed", and an additional German battalion in NL 13th Light Brigade as being "investigated". With all the new artillery battalions needed, the personnel constraints and the statement that to achieve full deployability, troops actually need to be shifted from combat to support units, I think it unlikely we will see additional line battalions though. With two going to Lithuania, what we're currently left with on the table is six Panzer (plus inactive Gebirgspanzerbataillon 8), nine Panzergrenadier (plus two inactive, 908 and 909) and five Jäger (plus one inactive, 921) battalions.

For three heavy and medium brigades each, that comes out to two each Panzer and one Panzergrenadier (Puma) battalion for the former; and two each Jäger (one converted from Panzergrenadier) and one Panzergrenadier (Boxer, except possibly for Panzergrenadierbrigade 41) battalion for the latter. Current Panzergrenadier battalions already showing up as generically wheeled on the chart are 401 and 411, of which the former is known to convert to Boxer in 2024/25. This leaves two, one of which could go to NL 13th Brigade. Given personnel constraints, I wouldn't be surprised if the last would be disbanded/inactivated to free up troops for new units.

As noted on the other thread, NATO calls for four maneuver elements per brigade though, and I suspect the reconnaissance battalions will be passed off as such with the introduction of a 6x6 Fennek successor with 25 mm gun and Boxer as "heavy reconnaissance vehicle". Notably the bi-national brigades have a mere recon company, but the Dutch ones include light infantry reserve battalions, and the Franco-German one a French wheeled armor and infantry regiment each (not shown). As of now, the brigade's recon company is part of Jägerbataillon 291 along with two infantry companies on Fuchs and Boxer respectively. This was an economy-of-force creation when the Bundeswehr had to stomp an additional battalion to base in France out of the ground as part of a political deal to maintain the brigade in 2009, but could be a role model for future "maneuver" reconnaissance battalions.

One of the new artillery battalions, Panzerartilleriebataillon 375, was already established recently and assigned to Panzergrenadierbrigade 37; 131, listed under that brigade on the chart, is moving to Panzerbrigade 12 to take up the barracks space vacated by Panzergrenadierbataillon 122. As previously noted, there are currently ten active PzH 2000 (plus two inactive) and four MLRS batteries, spread across four battalions of one observation and rocket artillery and two to four tube artillery batteries each; total stocks 108 PzH 2000 and, after passing on five to Ukraine, 35 MLRS of MARS II standard. Future buildup will be by wheeled RCH 155 (up to 168 planned) and PULS, of which five have already been ordered to replace the Ukrainian MLRS.

With one artillery battalion planned for each heavy and medium brigade as well as for each of the three divisions (including Division Rapid Forces), it is likely that the tracked legacy systems will be collected within the heavy formations. One possibility would be four identical battalions of three tube and one rocket battery each, assigned to the three heavy brigades and one mechanized division - though that leaves the question why not the other mech division with the same mix of heavy and medium forces.

Another option would be to concentrate MLRS in the two mech division battalions at two batteries each, make the brigade battalions tube-only with two or three firing batteries, and allocate the remaining PzH 2000 to the divisions, too. Division Rapid Forces would then get a battalion with equivalent PULS and RCH 155 batteries; or PULS could eventually replace MLRS entirely, since there are ideas to use the platform for future long-range guided missiles like MBDA's Joint Fire Support Missile with up to 500 kilometer range.

Edited January 1 by BansheeOne

[txtree99]

https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1740991535502487633?s=61&t=IZXtqtU-ivwfbke5UMfWTA
 

The German Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius recently stated that the Removal of Conscription from German Law in 2011 was a Mistake and that due to ongoing Troop Shortages in the Bundeswehr, it may soon be Reestablished as a Requirement for certain Men and Women who are German Citizens to Serve in the Armed Forces for up to 1 Year.

[Perun]

it is just a question of time when conscription would come back in other countries to

[BansheeOne]

The debate about possible un-suspension of the draft is still rather theoretical and at the make-a-wish level. Pistorius has repeatedly stated he thinks suspension was a mistake, and recently shown some sympathy for a Scandinavian-style gender-neutral selective service model, but has been first to note it would face considerable hurdles, and winning more volunteers should be the primary target. As many have noted, a selective service model would run headlong into the German obsession with Wehrgerechtigkeit bolstered by a 2009 Constitutional Court finding that it demands the most universal and equal conscription possible. Which would be made harder by expanding the base to women, a step that would also require changing the constitution.

A variety of people keep advocating for a general service year for young people in either the Bundeswehr or a range of social organizations, which would however require even more constitutional changes, and on the way violate the ban of forced labor in national and international law to which conscription for national defense is the only exception. This week Bavarian state premier Markus Söder, probably warming up for a run as the conservative candidate in the 2025 national elections which he strenuously denies having any interests in, suggested reinstating the draft for a seven-month term, but also said it would happen no sooner than in five years, which would be needed to re-establish the necessary organization. Etc.

[BansheeOne]

On 4/1/2023 at 7:52 PM, BansheeOne said:

I've thought about the case for reintroducing conscription in the last weeks and looked for data. The current target for 2031 with an eight-brigade army is of course an overall Bundeswehr strength of 203,000. Even before we come to the point that there is no development like that in sight, with figures hovering around 183,000 for the last three years, it's already clear that this wouldn't be sufficient to have an all-active force with the planned organization; the Heer alone is expecting it would have to add another 20,000 activated reservists, and across all services the required strength might be more like 240,000. That's without suggestions to increase the number of brigades to ten after 2031, which would at least get us to 250,000.

The Bundeswehr last had that strength during the "Neues Heer" army organization from 2003 to 2010, with about 20 percent conscipts. Around 70,000 were called up every year for a nine-month-term. Compared to annual drafts of ca. 200,000 during the Cold War, this was achieved by making civilian substitute service essentially a free choice and increasing standards for medicals at a time fitness levels among the younger generation were going down anyway. Even so, some judged to be fit for service were never called up, and the arbitrariness of the system which also resulted in marginally-trained soldiers who couldn't be deployed in the missions of the time contributed significantly to its demise.

Apropos of bringing back conscription, prompted by Markus Söder's musing about at least seven months of service five years from now I just thought about using the new homeguard regiments as the basis for a new territorial organisation to fit a near-universal short-term draft again yesterday. During the Cold War, we had as many as 18 territorial brigades/regiments in West Germany, not counting supporting units. Roughly speaking in terms of base population, in today's united Germany we could have 24, each with up to 2,000 conscripts at any time for a total of 48,000. Of course conservatively you'd need about 25 percent of that number, or 12,000, in professionals on top to lead and train them, which would need to be subtracted from the deployable organization.

If the territorial organization would simply run nothing but classic three-month-spells of general basic training four times a year, you could actually call up 192,000 conscripts per year, quite close to Cold War levels. Of course that alone would make little practical sense - other than building a huge pool of possible recalls in times of crisis, which at least have been through medical and evaluated for possible further use, but otherwise would pretty much need to be trained from scratch again. I doubt that would be worth the expense; the chief value of rudimental conscription has frequently been cited as getting people interested in professional military careers who would else never have gotten in touch, but three months will do little towards that end. I forgot the exact numbers from a survey during my time in the Bundestag, but STR the effect only became substantial around the half-year mark.

At a minimum, you'd have to get those short-termers a whiff of the "real" forces to wake possible interest; call it an additional one to three months. This would not increase the number of annual call-ups, but total size of the force, and need for leadership and training capabilities. Peak number of active draftees at any time would double to 96,000, so we come to the point where we must watch out for the upper limit of 370,000 German troops per the Two plus Four Treaty on reunification: If we assume best/biggest case of 250,000 in the deployable organization, plus 96,000 conscripts with a 25-percent markup for a total 120,000, we're right at that line. But I doubt that whatever the effect on recruiting of professionals, we'd ever get to 274,000 of the latter; even at it's high point in the 80s, the Bundeswehr had just 265,000 out of 495,000 total strength (53.5 percent) with a 15-month term of conscription.

It's more likely that out of a hoped-for deployable force of 250,000, a peak 48,000 at any time would be draftees just poking their noses in to be babysat by 202,000 professionals - incidentally, almost exactly the target for 2031 - with another 12,000 of the latter coming on top for the territorial organization for a total of 214,000, which seems an achievable result of the conscription effect. Adding the peak 96,000 conscripts, we arrive at an overall strength of 310,000, well short of the treaty limit. They would still have to prove being worth the effort though; I can just imagine the joy of combat units having to deal with an influx of green recruits only to see most of them leave before they have more than a basic notion of their specific trade.

I'm not quite sure whether it would be made better or worse if that part would just be one month with contingents spread out over a quarter for a continuous total of 64,000 draftees. With an overall strength of 268,000 that would be an 80 percent professional force, 93.6 in the deployable part. I would have to look deeper into possible organizations to see if that would amount to something like a dozen "interns" tagging along with any regular company etc., or if it would be better to go for the longer term and integrate the short-timers with existing training or reserve companies within combat formations. Or of course you could reduce the intake of draftees and thus the territorial organization to a level where you just feel it still passes the "universal and equal" requirement.

 

[BansheeOne]

On 12/29/2023 at 1:17 PM, BansheeOne said:

As noted on the other thread, NATO calls for four maneuver elements per brigade though, and I suspect the reconnaissance battalions will be passed off as such with the introduction of a 6x6 Fennek successor with 25 mm gun and Boxer as "heavy reconnaissance vehicle". Notably the bi-national brigades have a mere recon company, but the Dutch ones include light infantry reserve battalions, and the Franco-German one a French wheeled armor and infantry regiment each (not shown). As of now, the brigade's recon company is part of Jägerbataillon 291 along with two infantry companies on Fuchs and Boxer respectively. This was an economy-of-force creation when the Bundeswehr had to stomp an additional battalion to base in France out of the ground as part of a political deal to maintain the brigade in 2009, but could be a role model for future "maneuver" reconnaissance battalions.

Well I finally found an org chart for a reconnaissance battalion to be adapted this year, though it's notably labeled "medium forces". Which may indicate that the Fennek successor and "heavy reconnaissance" Boxer will be in different units for heavy and medium brigades altogether, though I'm not quite seeing the sense. However, the chart doesn't include vehicle/equipment establishments, and there may be other differences between the brigade categories. And something I haven't paid attention to so far is that there will also be divisional recon battalions.

- HQ company, including a signals and a maintenance platoon.

- 2 x reconnaissance company with four recon platoons; one also has a light scout, the other a military intelligence platoon.

- Technical company with three flights of the new HUSAR (LUNA NG) drone, and a radar platoon.

- Reserve company with two recon platoons, one each light scout and radar squad, and two MI teams.

- Inactive field replacement company.

I would guess that this makes for an establishment of 32 Fennek or the successor plus eight in the reserve company (compared to 24 in current battalions); 15 HUSAR with six control stations (currently AFAIK five each LUNA and KZO with two and one control stations respectively); and the same (six or nine?) Fuchs (or a successor like CAVS or Pandur Evolution, the latter also in the running as a Fennek follow-on) with PARA (RASIT) radar, to be replaced by BARÜ (Elta ELM-2180 WatchGuard) until 2027. Also the same (four?) Fuchs or successor as APCs for light scout squads, plus one (?) in the reserve company.

[BansheeOne]

Defense budget for 2024 belatedly agreed on Tuesday due to the delay by the reshuffling after last year's Constitutional Court ruling on repurposing of special funds. Total 51.95 billion Euro (+ 1.83 billion); the government claims that with additional expenditures from the 100 billion defense funds, the quota will finally reach 2.1 percent of the GDP this year. Naturally the opposition disagrees and accuses the government of trickery. What everyone agrees on is that the Bundeswehr is running into a 56 billion investment gap in 2028 after the special fund is expended, and steps need to be taken to regularize the required financing.

[BansheeOne]

On 8/26/2022 at 10:59 AM, BansheeOne said:

Idly looking ahead at German naval planning for the 2030s. The next major project after F126 (ex MKS180) will be (surprise!) F127, a large multi-purpose frigate jointly developed with the Netherlands. Which probably means the respective national classes will share some design details, like the Kortenaers and F122, and the De Zeven Provinciëns and F124.

- Six ships to replace the three F124 from 2032. Of course experience indicates they will be about five years late. Mind that options for two additional F126 in addition to the four ships ordered currently remain, too.

- Arleigh-Burke-sized with similar mission profile - anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine and, over the course of the program, endo- and possibly exo-atmospheric ABM, but also information and cyber warfare capabilities - though with about half the crew.

- Possible armament SM-3/6 or the projected seabased European Midcourse Interceptor, ESSM and RAM Block II, potentially high power lasers; plus anti-surface/land attack and stand-off ASW weapons.

- Two flexible stowage areas: aft bay for a speedboat of up to twelve meters, UUVs, mines, a containerized modular towed array sonar or other containerized equipment; two separate hangars, one for stowage and maintenance of a helicopter, and another for stowage of another helicopter, UAVs or again, UUVs, a speedboat or ISO containers.

- "Unplugged operations" capabilities in severe EW environments with no satellite and other network links, including by use of KI.

Some speculation about F127 systems:

- The Aegis BMD combat system is currently being evaluated for integration. As an existing system, it is considered low-risk, except that ITAR may rear its ugly head and there are probably a number of black boxes included.

- Rather than buying the complete Aegis suite, another combat management system might therefore be used below the BMD level for commonality with other German frigates; for example the Thales Tacticos planned for F126, or the Saab 9VL currently being retrofitted to F123, both therefore integrated with German sensors and weapons. Another option would be Lockheed Martin Canada's CMS 300, which is not subject to ITAR, has an open architecture, would be easily integrated with Aegis, and in turn alleviate American scepticism to link the latter with a European system.

- Radar could be SPY-6 or -7, the latter already planned for the Spanisch F110 and the Canadian Surface Combatant frigates; both also equipped with Aegis, and the latter also with CMS 300.

- BMD effectors might be SM-3 and/or -6, though the latter is very expensive. The future European anti-hypersonic interceptor is also planned for eventual integration. The future German-Norwegian Tyrfing supersonic strike missile, expected to be available in 2035, is likely to be the AShM system.

- Builder is likely to be German. Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems has already presented its MEKO A-400 AMD design as a base.

[BansheeOne]

On 1/3/2024 at 12:16 PM, BansheeOne said:

I would guess that this makes for an establishment of 32 Fennek or the successor plus eight in the reserve company (compared to 24 in current battalions); 15 HUSAR with six control stations (currently AFAIK five each LUNA and KZO with two and one control stations respectively); and the same (six or nine?) Fuchs (or a successor like CAVS or Pandur Evolution, the latter also in the running as a Fennek follow-on) with PARA (RASIT) radar, to be replaced by BARÜ (Elta ELM-2180 WatchGuard) until 2027. Also the same (four?) Fuchs or successor as APCs for light scout squads, plus one (?) in the reserve company.

The usually well-informed "Handelsblatt" reports that CAVS has gotten the nod as the Fuchs successor.

[seahawk]

Yes, with FFG building the vehicles.

[BansheeOne]

And the Fennek successor has now been christened Korsak.

Requirements: common unmanned 25 mm turret with Wiesel successor by Slovenian maker Valhalla based upon the remote-controlled-but-hatched design from the Airmobile Weapons Carrier technology demonstrator, probably mounting the Oerlikon KBA. No expressive anti-tank capabilities, though a later integration of loitering ammunition for this purpose is considered. Maximum mass 30 tons including 20 percent growth potential, thus initially 25 tons.

Level road speed at least 100 kph, range at least 1,100 kilometers at 60 kph. Amphibious capability not required, but strongly desired. Silent drive mode, though the exact technology is not stipulated, nor is the wheel number - though other parameters indicate at least 6x6. Mix of optical, optronic, acoustic and electromagnetic sensors, electronic self-protection suite. Two vehicles to be supplied for evaluation in 2026, followed by a series of 90 in 2027/28; option for 162 more.

Obviously COTS/MOTS due to the ambitious schedule. A "high single-digit number" of makers is reported to have expressed interest, with offers likely to include the aforementioned CAVS (which would make sense as a common successor for Fuchs, too), Fuchs 2, Pandur Evolution, and Iveco Super AV. Selection expected for mid-September this year.

[BansheeOne]

On 8/28/2023 at 3:04 PM, BansheeOne said:

The industry syndicate for V/SHORAD made their Best and Final Offer last week. It includes Skyranger 30, of which an initial 19 could be authorized for procurement by the Bundestag before year's end, and two additional Boxer variants: the fire control vehicle and an IRIS-T SLM launcher.

The Bundestag budget committee has now authorized procurement of one proving and 18 serial vehicles of Skyranger 30 including onboard simulators for training, and eight each reloading vehicles and maintenance sets for about 650 million Euro, including a share of development cost; the proving pattern expected to be delivered this year already, the series from 2026.

Turret will be built by Rheinmetall Zürich (ex Oerlikon) and include the airburst-capable KCE revolver gun, Stinger as a secondary weapon (an order for a modern missile variant with a proximity fuse of greater effectivity against drones is expected shortly), and likely Hensoldt radars. The accelerated procurement overtakes the cheap stopgap solution of a drone-defense Boxer with radar-guided RCWS housing an airburst-capable 40 mm GMG.