Under joint pressure from Paris and Washington, Germany has announced that it will send 40 Marder tanks and a Patriot missile system to the Ukrainian front by the spring. The decision comes after Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday, January 4th, that France would send AMX-10 reconnaissance vehicles or light tanks to Ukraine—the first delivery of Western-made tanks since the start of the conflict. The United States also joined the game by announcing the next delivery of M2 Bradley armoured vehicles (a combat vehicle with a 25 mm gun).
On Thursday, January 5th, following a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, German Ambassador to the U.S. Emily Haber announced her government’s decision.
Like the French AMX-10, the Marder tank was launched in the 1970s but is still in use today by the German army while being progressively replaced by the Puma tank. Like the AMX-10, it is not a tank but rather an infantry fighting vehicle.
The idea of sending Marder tanks was discussed as early as April 2022, but was dismissed by Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht on the grounds that Germany’s reserves were not sufficient: “We cannot deliver the weapons ourselves, the Bundeswehr does not have the means to do so,” she said at the time. “But where we can help, or train, we will.”
Until recently, Germany has been very cautious about supplying military equipment but finally decided to change its strategy. The international pressure was so strong, says the German TV Tageschau, that the promise was made before the exact terms of the delivery had been decided. It is not clear at this stage whether the Marders will be taken from those currently in use by the Bundeswehr—mainly deployed in Lithuania on behalf of NATO—or from those that are in stock with the manufacturer Rheinmetall for refurbishment.
The German authorities say they are taking note of a “change in the war” in Ukraine since the Ukrainian army is expecting a new Russian offensive. But Kyiv does not intend to be satisfied with Marder alone and still wants to obtain real German armoured vehicles, the famous Leopard 2. Scholz’s allies in his coalition, the Greens and Liberals, are in favour of delivering these tanks. The chancellor should “launch a European initiative for the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks now,” said Green Anton Hofreiter, chairman of the Bundestag’s European Affairs Committee. “There are about 2,000 active Leopard 2s in Europe. Only 10% delivered to Ukraine would be of great help.” The right-wing opposition CDU is also in favour of tank deliveries. “Germany should now decide in a quick meeting of its government to reverse its current strategy,” said the Christian Democratic Party’s head of defence issues, Henning Otte.
