Puma (German infantry fighting vehicle)
tracked infantry fighting vehicle family
The Schützenpanzer Puma (SPz Puma), meaning “Infantry fighting vehicle Puma”, is a German infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), per the Panzergrenadier-doctrine, designed to replace the aging Marder IFVs currently in service with the German Army. Production of the first batch of 350 vehicles began in 2010 and was completed in August 2021. A second batch of 229 Pumas received funding. Mass production began on 6 July 2009. The companies responsible for this project are KNDS Deutschland and Rheinmetall, which created a joint venture, Projekt System Management GmbH (PSM). The Puma is one of the world's best-protected IFVs, while still having a high power-to-weight ratio.
History
Development
The Puma (formerly also named Igel (hedgehog) and Panther) started as a follow-up project to the German 1996 "NGP" project (Neue Gepanzerte Plattformen, "New Armored Platforms"). Its aim was to collect ideas for a common base vehicle that could be used for a variety of tasks including that of the APC, IFV, air defense and replacing and assisting the MBT in the frontline combat role. The NGP project was ended in 2001.
The lessons learned were incorporated into the new tactical concept named neuer Schützenpanzer ("new IFV") in 1998.
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This entry incorporates text from “Puma (German infantry fighting vehicle)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.