This Friday, the supporters of Ukraine once again came together at the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany – including special guest Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Further assistance to Ukraine was to be discussed, especially in the area of long-range strike capabilities and air defence, in the latter of which Germany has taken a clear international lead.
As always, the hopes for additional announced military aid were high. After only a couple of hours, it was clear, not only the US, the UK, the Netherlands and Canada pledged additional military support worth hundreds of millions, but surprisingly also Germany!
According to Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius, Germany will deliver an additional 12 PzH 2000s worth around €150 million to Ukraine, six of which this year and six next year. The self-propelled artillery systems will come from industrial stocks (not a new production), which is why such a fast delivery is possible.
Although I have to mention, that just three weeks ago, the Geman MoD announced to deliver 12 PzH 2000 until the end of the year, not just six. As of now, I can’t explain the difference, but have enquired with the MoD to maybe get an answer to that question.
I am sure it is widely known by now that Germany’s budget for this year’s and the next few years military assistance is currently fully bound. According to Pistorius, this new pledge was possible because an order was placed around six months ago. Funding will therefore come from the current year’s budget of around €7.1 billion.
With today’s new commitment, Germany has delivered a total of 14 PzH 2000s to Ukraine and promised a further 30 to be delivered over the next three years. This, of course, comes in addition to the delivery of other self-propelled howitzers such as the Zuzana 2 or RCH 155.
Of the latter, Germany financed the delivery of 54 artillery systems, the first of which is due to be delivered this year. This would make Ukraine the first operator of the state-of-the-art RCH 155 howitzer, which US Commanding General Darryl A. Williams recently described as a “game changer”.
Although it is of course debatable whether there really is such a thing as a game changer. Please go easy on me!
The 16 Zuzana 2s that Germany is supplying to Ukraine in collaboration with Denmark and Norway should also not be forgotten. The howitzers produced in Slovakia, worth €92 million, were announced in October 2022. As things stand, just two have been delivered, although four more are due to follow this year.
All in all, it can be recapitulated and at least in my opinion gratefully acknowledged that Germany is now making a truly significant contribution to the modernisation of the Ukrainian tube artillery.
A total of 16 modern self-propelled howitzers have already been delivered since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 with the majority coming from Bundeswehr stocks, and a further 98 partially state-of-the-art ones have been promised. Of them, about twenty are to be delivered in 2025.
The costs of these deliveries are now exceeding the billion euro ceiling, and that’s without the corresponding ammunition or additional deliveries of spare parts!
So far unknown: more MANPADS for Ukraine
What seems to have remained completely under the radar so far are new commitments to supply an undisclosed number of additional FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS to Ukraine.
Pistorius briefly mentioned “Stinger” in his press statement while talking about additional deliveries in the coming years, while the Ministry of Defence wrote on its website about additional deliveries of air defence systems and mentioned “Stinger missiles”.
Although it’s not a lot of information and important information like a delivery schedule or the exact amount is not even mentioned at all, it is still enough information to be sure that this a new pledge.
As the approximately 500 FIM-92 Stinger worth around €395 million procured for the Bundeswehr as a replacement for the MANPADS delivered to Ukraine are not due to be delivered until 2028 to 2029, I assume that there will be further deliveries from Bundeswehr stocks. After all, Pistorius has spoken of assistance that is to be delivered by 2026.
Very early in 2022, the German government already delivered 500 FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS from Bundeswehr stocks to Ukraine.
All in all, a decent, albeit small, package that helps Ukraine in two areas in which Germany places a strong focus — artillery and air defence.
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Changelog
- 06th of September 2024 — Small correction of the number of total pledged artillery systems
