Ukraine to Receive 20 Additional Marder IFVs from Germany
17 December, 2024 A Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicle from the 36th Marine Brigade. Photo: 36th Marine Brigade The German corporation Rheinmetall has received an order to supply 20 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine as part of military assistance.
This was reported on the official website of the defense company. The order for the supply of 1A3 Marder infantry fighting vehicles was placed in December 2024 by the German government, which will finance it. The German company does not disclose the exact value of the order, but notes that it is a "double-digit number in millions of euros."
The delivery of this batch of combat vehicles is scheduled for the first half of 2025.
A Ukrainian soldier near the Marder 1A3 IFV. Photo from open sources
Rheinmetall reported that it has handed over more than a hundred Marder infantry fighting vehicles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Marder for Ukraine
Marder 1 IFV in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, July 2024. Photo credits: 225th Separate Assault Battalion
The German company is supplying Ukraine with refurbished Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles that were previously in service with the German Army.
The overhaul is being conducted at Rheinmetall's facilities in Unterluss and Kassel. Back in the spring of 2022, the German defense company, on its own initiative, began overhauling the Marder BMP for future transfer to Ukraine. This project is currently funded by the German government.
Marder 1A3 IFV at the Rheinmetall Test Centre EZU.
Photo credits: Bild
The first batch of 20 vehicles of this type was shipped to Ukraine on March 21, 2023. Rheinmetall has also set up the repair and maintenance of these infantry fighting vehicles in Ukraine. As of December 2024, it is known that as part of military aid packages from Germany, the Ukrainian Defense Forces received 140 Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles.
They are in service with various units, including the Marines.
Marder
Marder 1A3 IFV. Photo from the open sources
The Marder was developed in the 1960s by the German company Rheinmetall AG on the order of the German Armed Forces. It is armed with a 20-mm RH 202 automatic cannon and a paired 7.62-mm MG3 machine gun mounted on a carriage on top of the two-seat turret.
The Rh 202 cannon is loaded with 20x139 mm ammunition. In addition, it can be equipped with a MILAN anti-tank missile system, but no evidence of anti-tank missiles being used by Ukrainian Marder IFVs has been observed. The vehicle can carry 10 people, three of whom are crew members.
The commander and gunner are in the turret, and the driver is in front of the hull on the left (as it moves).
The combat compartment is located in the middle part of the IFV hull.