Rheinmetall to deliver 20 additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine

9 April, 2024 Marder 1A3 IFV during repairs. Photo credits: Rheinmetall The German government commissioned Rheinmetall to supply Ukraine with 20 additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles within its military assistance.

The defense company announced this on its official website. The order to supply Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles was placed in March 2024. The German company does not disclose the order's exact value, but notes that the order has "a value in the mid-double-digit million Euro range." The delivery of this new lot is scheduled for 2024.

Rheinmetall reported that they have already transferred a three-digit number of Marder IFVs to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The version of the Marder 1A3 that has now been ordered also features integrated laser range finders, which enable efficient and precise target elimination.

Marder 1A3 of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces during exercises. Photo credits: Ukrainian Air Assault Forces

"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 said. The company is transferring Marder 1A3 IFVs used by the German Army that are undergoing major repairs. The work is being carried out at Rheinmetall's facilities in Unterluess and Kassel.

Back in the spring of 2022, the German defense company, on its own initiative, started overhauling the Marder IFVs for future transfer to Ukraine. The first batch of 20 vehicles of this type was shipped to Ukraine on March 21, 2023. In addition, in June 2023, the company handed over 20 additional Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles.

A Ukrainian soldier near the Marder 1A3 IFV.

Photo from the network

Last September, it was reported that Rheinmetall would supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with 40 additional Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles ordered by the German government in August 2013. A report on the German government's official website last December revealed that Germany would be transferring more Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine than previously reported. At that time, the country funded or transferred 120 Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine - 40 of them were handed over by Rheinmetall after being repaired.

The remaining 80 IFVs came from the German Army inventory.