The German defense company Rheinmetall will refurbish 20 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles to be delivered to Ukraine.

The German RND reported this.

On Tuesday, the company at its production site in Unterlüß announced that it had received an order to repair and modernize 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles from the Federal Ministry of Defense.

According to preliminary information, infantry fighting vehicles should be delivered to Ukraine by the end of July.

As of now, Ukraine has already received 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles as part of military aid from Germany. Soldiers of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces were the ones receiving the transferred armored vehicles.

Rheinmetall also offers 60 other armored vehicles from its own stock.

Marder infantry fighting vehicle

Marder IFV was developed in the 1960s by order of the German Armed Forces by the German company Rheinmetall AG. The first Marder prototype was assembled at the end of 1969, and production of these machines continued until 1975.

When the Marder infantry fighting vehicle was adopted, this armored vehicle was superior to the known infantry fighting vehicles of the time in terms of protection and had a high speed of movement over rough terrain, which allowed it to act together with Leopard tanks as part of a strike group.

The vehicle can accommodate 10 soldiers, three of which are crew members. The commander and gunner are seated in the turret, and the driver is positioned in front of the hull on the left side. The fighting compartment is located in the middle of the IFV`s hull.

The IFV is armed with an RH 202 20mm autocannon and a twin MG3 7.62mm machine gun mounted on a carriage over a two-seat turret. The Rh 202 gun uses 20×139 mm shells.

IFVs transferred to Ukraine have an increased weight of 1,600 kg due to additional armour. Additional armor plates should protect the vehicle in the front sector from the fire of the dart ammunition of the 30-mm 2A42 gun, which arms the Soviet BMP-2, BMD-2, and BMP-3.

The increased protection of horizontal surfaces – the roof of the hull and the turret – should protect the IFV from damage by shaped-charge submunitions.