Germany has approved the sale of 104 Leopard 2 tanks and 50 Marder 1A2 AIFV to Indonesia 1105132

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Defence & Security News - Germany

 
 
Saturday, May 11, 2013 02:38 PM
 
Germany has approved the sale of 104 Leopard 2 tanks and 50 Marder 1A2 AIFV to Indonesia.
The German government confirmed the sale of 104 used Leopard 2 tanks and 50 armored personnel carriers Marder 1A2 armoured infantry fighting vehicle by industrial group Rheinmetall to Indonesia, but has put off a decision on a tank sale to Saudi Arabia, a defence source said on Friday, May 10, 2013.
     

German-made Leopard 2A6 main battle tank
     

The Leopard 2 is a German-made main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). The main armament of the Leopard 2 consists of a 120mm L55 smoothbore gun which was developed by Rheinmetall Waffei Munition of Ratingen.

A defense source told Reuters last week of the sale to Indonesia. The government has a practice of not commenting on such decisions but Wednesday’s confirmation came in the form of a written reply to a request from the opposition Greens party.

Under the deal, German military manufacturer Rheinmetall was given government approval to sell 164 tanks to Indonesia. The deal comprises 104 Leopard 2 tanks, 50 of the older Marder 1A2 infantry fighting vehicles, four tanks specialized for mountain terrain, three mobile bridge-layers and three armored earth-movers, called "pioneer tanks" in Germany.

Indonesia, which has economic growth of above 6 percent, is wary of being left behind as China, Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian nations ramp up defense spending.

This year it announced plans to buy more than a dozen Russian Sukhoi fighter jets as well as domestically made, missile-equipped patrol ships.

The Marder 1A2 is the second generation of tracked armoured infantry fighting vehicle Marder family. Main armament consists of a 20 mm Rheinmetall MK 20 Rh202 automatic cannon mounted in a two-man turret which can fire either armour-piercing or HE ammunitions.

     

German-made Marder 1A2 armoured infantry fighting vehicle