On Thursday, the 4th of January 2024, the German government published for the first time in the new year the latest deliveries of military assistance to Ukraine.
Since they didn’t publish an update shortly before New Year’s Eve, the update was this time somewhat larger and more comprehensive. The highlights of this week’s update were clearly deliveries in the field of air defence.
Germany not only supplied Ukraine with the last two previously pledged TRML-4D air surveillance radars, up to 120 additional IRIS-T (SL) guided missiles for use with the IRIS-T SLM systems supplied by Germany and 30 drone detection sensors, but also a Skynex air defence system for the first time.
This is a cannon-based air defence system designed for close-range protection. I have already written a very interesting article about it. In detail, the following deliveries were made public.
- Up to 120 IRIS-T (SL) missiles
- 1 Skynex air defence system
- 2 TRML-4D air surveillance radars
- 30 drone detection sensors
- 10 Marder 1A3 IFVs
- 1 bridge-laying tank Biber
- 3 HX81
- 1 semi-trailer for HX81
- 10 Mercedes-Benz Zetros
- 2 WiSENT 1 MC
- 34 regular vehicles
- 3,350 combat helmets M92
- 10 ground surveillance radars Ground Observer 12
- 305 MK 556 rifles
- 9,080 shells 155 mm artillery ammunition
- ammunition for Leopard 2A6
- 0.75 million rounds of firearm ammunition
- 1,152 winter camouflage nets
- 2,000 winter camouflage ponchos
In addition, some assistance already pledged in November 2023 has finally been added to the list. To be precise, this includes 4 further IRIS-T SLM systems, 1 Skynex air defence system, a further 20 drone detection sensors and 8,000 anti-tank mines, which are very likely to be DM22 (PARM).
Apart from that, however, new assistance has also been added. These include a further 26,850 M92 combat helmets, 4,695 MK 556 rifles, 0.45 million rounds of firearm ammunition and 41 Mercedes-Benz Arocs.
Of particular interest here are the 5,000 MK 556s that have been delivered or pledged. After all, the Bundeswehr — or to be more precise, the KSK — is training Ukrainian special forces with exactly this rifle.
We can therefore definitely expect that a large proportion of these weapons will end up with various units of the Ukrainian special forces and the International Legion, as is already the case with the MG5s supplied by Germany.
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