The Israeli company Elbit Systems has announced that it has received a contract from Germany for the supply of PULS rocket systems worth approximately $57 million. The exact number of systems has not been disclosed, but budget requests from the Bundeswehr referred to an order for five such systems, which are intended to replace five MARS II units, the German version of the M270.
Overall, this contract exemplifies how quickly Germany can now process such procurements. Because German M270s were transferred to Ukraine in July 2022, the work on acquiring these systems began in October 2023, with funding approved in December 2024.
While the official announcement lacks critical details, the German Hartpunkt, citing its own sources, reports that the delivery of the first PULS units is expected in 2025. This will involve two launchers that will not differ from the standard versions.
However, the additional three will be equipped with a German command and communication system and will be designated Euro-PULS, after which the first two will be upgraded to the same standard. The European portion of the work will be carried out by KNDS Deutschland. Interestingly, the vehicles will be built on IVECO Trakker chassis, even though the primary chassis for Germany is the HX from Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles.
From the perspective of Defense Express, it is worth noting that the rockets for the PULS remain uncertain, as they are crucial for the entire purpose of this procurement. It is also important to remind that the most interesting armament options for this Israeli rocket system are the Extra with a range of up to 150 km (4 in one package) and the Predator Hawk missiles with a range of 300 km (2 in one package), which are essentially ballistic.
Predator Hawk is positioned by Elbit Systems as a means for precision strikes on protected targets, such as command centers. The claimed accuracy is 10 meters, with a unitary warhead weight of 140 kg. The minimum firing range is 50 km, and at the maximum range of 300 km, the missile takes 8 minutes to reach its target.
If the Bundeswehr purchases such a missile, it will be the first time since the end of the Cold War that ballistic missiles will be present in the German armed forces. The fact is that after World War II, Germany was not allowed to develop its own long-range missile weapons. However, for the Bundeswehr, the United States transferred Pershing 1 ballistic missiles with a range of 740 km in the mid-1960s. But in 1991, all of these were withdrawn by the Americans and destroyed under their INF treaty with the USSR.
At the same time, from 1989 to 1993, the Bundeswehr received 158 M270 units, which were designated MARS, but without ATACMS. These systems became one of the largest victims of Germany's defense capability reductions, as by 2018 only 22 vehicles had been upgraded to the MARS II level, which allowed the use of precision-guided GMLRS missiles, and only 18 unmodernized units remained in reserve.