Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[Bofferbrauer2]

Ryuu96 said:

In London, NATO chief Mark Rutte will call for a 400% increase in the Alliance’s air and missile defense, citing Russia’s “terror from the skies” in Ukraine, Reuters reports. He’ll also stress the need for thousands of armored vehicles, millions of shells, and double the logistics capacity.

[image or embed]

— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) 9 June 2025 at 12:02

I feel like all these budget and stock increases are actually harmful for Ukraine. Sure, the military industry is now producing quite a lot more than before, but since the militaries in Europe are now stocking up, they have less to send to Ukraine anymore. This is coupled with the slow acquisition process of some countries.

In Germany for instance, they decided to get the Patria 6x6 to replace their old TPz Fuchs as wheeled APC. The decision has been made in January - but a budget for these is only expected to come by end of the year, and an actual order in 2026. Further orders for the Boxer and Puma to fully replace the Marder are also still on hold.

They have a confusing mix of Leopard 2 tanks (19 A5, 68 A6, 34 A6 A3, 50 A6M, 20 A6 A3M, 104 A7V, 16 A7 A1 in production and 123 A8 ordered, plus driving school models of the A6 A3 and A7V), which could probably be much cheaper and easier to maintain if they all would be upgraded to the same standard (so to the A8 standard, the most current one).

Ukraine could make very good use with both the Marder and Fuchs vehicles, but Germany is way too slow in their process to be delivering both anytime soon. They could also send the old Leopard 2A5 since they have much more modern variants in stock and in production now. And of course, all their remaining Gepard since they're in storage anyway (which may need to be refurbished first), as Germany is ordering the Skyranger 30 as a replacement... though really in minuscule quantities (even Austria is ordering twice as many systems - though that may be due to the lighter, less capable turret).