Bundeswehr Plans to Order Third Batch of Puma IFVs in 2027

The Bundeswehr plans to acquire a third batch of Puma infantry fighting vehicles.

Hartpunkt reported this, citing Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger, who made the statement during an analysts’ conference.

The contract is expected to be signed in 2027.

The third Puma batch is preliminarily estimated to be worth around €5 billion. The German military plans to continue procuring the vehicles as part of a large-scale modernization of the Army.

At the same time, the final parameters of the future order, including the exact number of vehicles, have not yet been disclosed.

The delay in placing the order is partly related to the need to agree on funding and the parameters of the future procurement.

The Bundeswehr previously ordered another 200 Puma vehicles as part of the second production batch. The corresponding contract with Projekt System & Management, a joint venture between Rheinmetall and KNDS Deutschland, was signed in December 2025.

The contract is worth €4.2 billion in total. The first vehicles are scheduled to be delivered to the German Army in mid-2028.

In addition to the 200 vehicles ordered so far, the contract also includes the procurement of additional protection modules and storage containers.

As part of Germany’s €377 billion rearmament program, the country plans to acquire an additional 662 infantry fighting vehicles to fully re-equip the Army with the new IFVs, which will replace the Marder. This would bring the total number of Puma IFVs in German service to 1,000.

The procurement is scheduled to be completed by 2035. In parallel with the new orders, Germany is upgrading its existing Puma fleet to the S1 standard.

In 2023-2024, BAAINBw ordered a comprehensive upgrade of 297 IFVs out of approximately 350 Puma vehicles in Bundeswehr service that do not yet meet the S1 standard.

The upgrades are scheduled to be completed in 2029. They include the integration of new optical and thermal imaging systems, MELLS anti-tank guided missiles, the localized version of the Spike LR2, and new radios.