BERLIN/MNICH (dpa-AFX) – According to the armaments company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), the federal government has approved the sale of 100 new self-propelled howitzers to the Ukraine. A company spokesman confirmed a corresponding report by the news magazine “Der Spiegel” on Wednesday. Accordingly, on July 13, the Ministry of Economic Affairs granted the Munich armaments company approval for the construction of the Panzerhaubitzen 2000. The spokesman said that the export was thus also approved. The contract with Ukraine is now being made. However, KMW is willing to make advance payments so that no time is lost.
Germany has so far delivered ten Panzerhaubitzen 2000 from its own stocks to the Ukraine. The self-propelled howitzer is the most modern artillery piece of the armed forces with a range of 40 kilometers. The armed forces of eight states have more than 360 of these howitzers at their disposal.
When the Ukraine will get the first howitzers newly manufactured by KMW is a secret. According to the information, the production of all 100 howitzers should take several years. They cost a total of around 1.7 billion euros.
According to “Spiegel”, the Ukraine had already asked KMW in April whether the howitzers could be bought directly from the manufacturer. KMW submitted the official application to the ministry on July 11 and received approval two days later./csd/DP/nas