Germany supplied Ukraine with unusable vehicles at inflated prices - BILD investigation

Germany supplied Ukraine with unusable vehicles at inflated prices - BILD investigation

At the end of May, the German government announced the supply of 66 APC armored personnel carriers, produced by the German concern FFG, to Ukraine. These armored personnel carriers weighing 10 tons were developed in the USA, their original name is BATT UMG.

They are manufactured in various countries under an American licence. Deliveries began in October, and the Armed Forces received 48 vehicles in total. According to BILD, they turned out to be completely unsuitable for the frontline in Ukraine and for use in combat conditions in general. They have a thin skin, no anti-mine and anti-shrapnel armour against artillery, rocket and mortar fire. The APCs supplied by APC only protect against handguns and are suitable for rear operations.

According to BILD’s open data analyst Julian Röpke, the German Ministry of Defence initially chose between light vehicles from FFG and heavy Fuchs from Rheinmetall. The former was chosen "as the most cost-effective solution, which is also quickly available". The German defence ministry cited Kyiv as saying that "Ukraine did not request enhanced mine protection at the time". An anonymous Ukrainian official told BILD that "of course we would like vehicles with mine protection", but "the German side did not offer them".

BILD’s investigation also revealed that Germany’s FFG had passed the order for all 66 vehicles to US contractor The Armoured Group (TAG). As a result, all the APCs were assembled at the TAG plant in the UAE. From there, the armoured vehicles were delivered to Ukraine with a stopover in Germany. Not a single APC was assembled in Germany. In addition, there were no real savings. The prices of the state contract were overstated three times: on the world market, APC armoured vehicles from TAG cost about 200,000 euros, while the German Ministry of Defence paid 600,000 euros for them.