APC Development and related topics.

[MarkSheppard]

Re: PUMA

Been reading another forum and the basics are:

1.) The Bundeswehr no longer has integral maintenance units at Battalion level.

2.) The Pumas were apparently from the training pool which has no corporate unit "ownership" -- they were passed around.

3.) Turns out all but one of the 18 Puma AIFV that broke down during a training exercise could have been fixed by the army within 30 minutes if they had mechanics and the spare parts.

4.) Lots of petty failures -- screen breaks after accidentally being kicked; a blown fuze, screw loose on the ATGM launcher, one vehicle was perfectly fine, but the crew forgot that the auxiliary heating only works when the engine is turned on -- in one sample only two were really damaged -- they had deformed turret rings from hitting something (?)

5.) Slightly related -- about 20 years ago when the Swedish evaluated PzH 2000 and AS-90; they essentially said AS-90 was suitable for conscripts while PzH 2000 was more suitable for career soldiers due to more details to keep track of -- during the Swedish trials it seems you had to keep the floor of the PzH 2000 really clean as small gravel pebbles had a tendency to get into the moving parts there and cause issues otherwise.