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☆ Germany Forges Pact for Leopard 2 Successor in Snub to Paris - Handelsblatt
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has signed agreements with Italy, Spain and Sweden on the development of a successor to the Leopard 2 tank, German business daily Handelsblatt reported on Wednesday. The initiative is to take place under the leadership of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall, the German arms makers building the Leopard 2, Handelsblatt reported, citing unnamed industry and political sources. The German defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The defence ministry in Paris and the office of President Emmanuel Macron did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It cited French government sources as saying the topic would be raised at Franco-German government consultations scheduled for the start of October.

Persons: French Leclerc, Maffei, Handelsblatt, Sweden's, Italy's Leonardo, Emmanuel Macron, Friederike Heine, Sabine Siebold, Michel Rose, Andrew Cawthorne, Alison Williams Organizations: BERLIN, Krauss, Rheinmetall, European Defence Fund, Sweden's Saab, Franco Locations: Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, France, Berlin, Franco, French, Spanish, Europe, U.S, Africa, Russia, Paris

☆ Germany forges pact for Leopard 2 successor in snub to Paris, Handelsblatt reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Germany has signed agreements with Italy, Spain and Sweden on the development of a successor to the Leopard 2 tank, German business daily Handelsblatt reported on Wednesday. The German defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The delays to the proposed Franco-German project have strained ties already tested by differences over energy topics and the question to what extent Europe should become independent from the U.S. in its security policy. The defence ministry in Paris and the office of President Emmanuel Macron did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It cited French government sources as saying the topic would be raised at Franco-German government consultations scheduled for the start of October.

Persons: French Leclerc, Maffei, Handelsblatt, Sweden's, Italy's Leonardo, Emmanuel Macron, Friederike Heine, Sabine Siebold, Michel Rose, Andrew Cawthorne, Alison Williams Organizations: Krauss, Rheinmetall, European Defence Fund, Sweden's Saab, Franco, Thomson Locations: Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, France, Berlin, Franco, French, Spanish, Europe, U.S, Africa, Russia, Paris

The German-made Leopards were at the centre of a public spat earlier this year after Belgian Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder said the government had explored buying back tanks to send to Ukraine but had been quoted unreasonable prices. Freddy Versluys, CEO of defence company OIP Land Systems, bought the tanks from the Belgian government more than five years ago. The German Defence Ministry had no immediate comment. Several of Kyiv's Western allies agreed earlier this year to send modern Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and also to send older Leopard 1 models. A spokesperson for the Belgian defence ministry declined to comment on the sale of the tanks.

Persons: Freddy Versluys, Read, Ludivine Dedonder, Germany's, Versluys, Krauss, Andrew Gray, Christoph Steitz, Sabine Siebold, Jonathan Oatis, Alex Richardson Organizations: OIP, Systems, Belgian, Leopards, Belgian Defence, Reuters, Rheinmetall, LinkedIn, NATO, German Defence Ministry, Maffei, Thomson Locations: Belgian, Ukraine, Wallonia, Germany, Tournais, Belgium, BRUSSELS, Vilnius

REUTERS/Kim... Read moreLONDON/WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - When it comes to taking stock of global emissions, there's an elephant in the room: the world's armed forces. NATO, the 31-country Western security alliance, for example, told Reuters it has created a methodology for its members to report their military emissions. And Washington sent U.S. Army and Navy representatives to the COP27 climate summit in Egypt last year, the first time a Pentagon delegation has attended the global climate summit. Ukraine's environment ministry spokesperson said it supports the efforts and would seek backing from governments at COP28 for more transparent military emissions reporting. In the meantime, global military emissions will remain poorly understood, said Stuart Parkinson, executive director of the group Scientists for Global Responsibility.

Persons: Kim, Queen Mary, Axel Michaelowa, Meredith Berger, Neta Crawford, Deborah Burton, Lennard, Klerk, James Appathurai, Markus Ruelke, Stuart Parkinson, Sarah McFarlane, Valerie Volcovici, Sabine Siebold, Richard Valdmanis, David Clarke Organizations: REUTERS, Observatory, United Arab Emirates, UNFCCC, COP28, NATO, Reuters, Washington, U.S . Army, Pentagon, U.S . Navy, The, U.S . Defence Logistics Agency, U.S . Department of Defense, Oxford University, Oxford, Queen Mary University of London, Scientists, Global, Thomson Locations: South Korea, U.S, Pocheon, WASHINGTON, Kyoto, Paris, Lancaster, Oxford, Dubai, UAE, Zealand, Britain, Germany, Egypt, The U.S, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Singapore, Switzerland, Syria, COP28, Berlin

☆ Germany allows Poland to export old fighter jets to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - Germany has approved Poland's request to export five old MiG-29 fighter jets to bolster Ukraine's air power against the Russian invasion, the German defence ministry said on Thursday. Germany inherited 24 MiG-29 jets from the East German GDR during reunification in 1990. At the time, the aircraft were seen as among the most advanced fighter jets in the world. Ukraine, which hopes to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months, wants to secure fighter jets to defend against air strikes. Western countries have so far been reluctant to send advanced fighter jets such as F-16's to Kyiv, but some countries have stepped in to send old MiG-29 jets that Ukraine already uses.

NATO has just completed an extraordinary survey of the remaining munition stocks, a NATO official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "Those NATO (munitions targets) that we set, and each ally has a specific target, those were not being met for the most part (before the Ukraine war)," the official said. "I would be absolutely gobsmacked if the targets…were not increased," said the NATO official. After the Cold War, the production of ammunition had turned "quite artisanal", said the NATO official. "I don't necessarily think that within the next year our stockpile levels will increase massively," the NATO official said.

☆ Germany pauses purchases of Puma tanks after operational problems
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Rachel More | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares in Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE), which manufactures the tanks together with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), were down 7% after the minister's announcement. A statement from the German defence ministry said the goal was to make the Puma tanks operational as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the German Bundeswehr military would use Marder tanks, the predecessor model to the Puma, from Jan. 1, in what a ministry spokesperson called a "fall-back solution". Neither Rheinmetall nor KMW would comment on the issues with the Puma model. The Spiegel magazine reported over the weekend that 18 Puma tanks intended for NATO's very high readiness joint task force next year were not operational after problems arose during a firing exercise.

Advanced air defence systems are designed to protect entire cities from air attacks. Russian air raids on Monday killed 19 people in Ukraine, wounded more than 100 and knocked out power supplies across the country. On Tuesday, Ukraine received the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defence systems Germany promised to supply, a German defence ministry source said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterNATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking ahead of a two-day meeting of the alliance's defence ministers on Oct 12-13 in Brussels, urged allies to provide additional air defence systems. Discussions of the more than 50 countries will focus on providing additional air defence systems to Ukraine, said the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith.

☆ Ukraine receives first of four German IRIS-T air defence systems -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Ukraine on Tuesday received the first of four IRIS-T air defence systems Germany promised to supply, a German defence ministry source said, confirming a report by Der Spiegel magazine. The delivery had taken place earlier than planned, the source added. The government did immediately respond to a request for official comment. Russia pounded cities across Ukraine during rush hour on Monday morning, killing civilians and knocking out power and heat, in apparent revenge strikes after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a blast on Russia's bridge to Crimea to be a terrorist attack. read moreRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Sabine Siebold, Writing by Paul Carrel and Thomas Escritt, editing by Rachel More and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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