Posted on 03/04/2022 11:26:23 AM PST by rktman
Germany’s Defence Ministry has declined to comment after the press learnt on Thursday that around 700 of the missiles they planned to send to Ukraine were found to be so old they had become inoperable.
Berlin had planned to send Ukraine 2,700 ‘Strela’ rockets dating back to the German Communist era, as part of the weapons package Germany had prepared to help Kyiv fend off the Russian invasion, but at least 700 have been revealed to be defective, with the boxes they’re stored in being described as “mouldy”.
The rockets had initially been designed for use by the National People’s Army of the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic (GDR), which ceased to exist in 1990, following the liberation of East Germany from communist rule.
A classified military document that was leaked by Spiegel magazine reported per The Telegraph has said that: “Owing to the obsolescence of the rocket motor, the Strela missile is no longer safe to handle, so it can no longer be fired”. As a result of neglect, small cracks had formed on the rockets, which led to corrosion.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Out with the old, in with the new.
Sounds like a labor union seniority problem.
I’ve seen that too.
Even despite the rocket motors I bet the batteries that power the electronics are S-H-O-T..... no good
Germany is a worthless NATO member...beyond worthless.
You don’t want a moldy MANPAD.
Government bureaucrats...........and politicians...........
Batteries could be easily replaced.
But how many other munitions are in this condition--especially ones that the Germans considered to be usable.
Germany saved cost of properly disposing off those obsolete weapons by shipping them off to Ukraine. And may be Germany also sent a bill to Ukraine. Win-Win for Germany!
Germany needs some old school tinkerers to get these things working.
Last I checked they have more than a few Afghans in Germany and those guys excel at making old bombs work again!
So....you’re implying the Germans shipped replacement batteries for these old GDR missiles, too?
Ship what you can.
Repair the rest and ship it as soon as you can.
Germany is the best NATO ally that money and threats can buy. /sarc
World War II was very hard on the German gene pool.
I bet Germany is just heartbroken. I hope the US wasn’t paying too much into NATO for their maintenance.
Moldy batteries wouldn’t be a good thing but it seems like the Krauts are back to wishing for the candy Bomber?
Maybe they still have some V2s laying around.
Obsolete missiles sent ‘accidentally-on-purpose’?
“Hoppla!
If Germany really wanted to help they would buy from Israel a drone system with the accompanying armaments and give it to the Ukrinians and keep it supplied with missiles.
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