Bild: Germany misses deadline for delivery of 400 armored vehicles to Ukraine

The German-funded contract for hundreds of armored vehicles for Ukraine was supposed to deliver the first batches in 2023, but as of April, not a single unit had been delivered.

The German publication Bild reported on this.

In June 2023, the German government announced a tranche of military aid to Ukraine, which included a large number of armored vehicles, including unnamed “armored personnel carriers.”

As the publication later reported, it was about German-made MRAP armored vehicles, namely BATT UMG.

“There is a contract between Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) and Ukraine, which is funded by Germany. According to our data, all vehicles will be delivered in 2024,” a spokesman of the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) told reporters.

According to Bild, FFG has been awarded a contract for 400 vehicles worth €315 million, where each vehicle, including spare parts, certification and delivery costs €787,500. Delivery of the equipment was to begin in 2023 and continue over the next few years.

Failure to meet contract deadlines

Bild refers to secret documents obtained by the German Ministry of Defense from September 2023, which refer to plans to supply armored vehicles to Ukraine in batches of 20 units from January to October 2024.

However, to date, no vehicles of this type have been delivered, and the first deliveries are scheduled for 2024.

According to the publication, this year’s deliveries have already been postponed from January to May, and now they are expected to start only in June. The total expected volume of transferred equipment in 2024 was therefore halved from 200 to 100 units.

The reasons for the constant supply disruptions may be poorly established logistics and production processes, as the German company Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) manufactures the vehicles under license, performing only the final assembly from American parts.

The publication says, citing sources in the German Defense Ministry, that the delays were caused by “restrictive export permits from the United States to Germany.”

Also, according to Bild, the already manufactured vehicles cannot be delivered to Ukraine due to the lack of the necessary certification: Germany has pledged to supply “mine-protected vehicles,” but BATT UMG has not been tested.

A ministry insider confirmed to the publication that no successful tests had been conducted to obtain the necessary certificates by mid-April. The mine protection of vehicles promised by FFG has not yet been proven.