The German magazine "Der Spiegel" in the material "Panzerhaubitzen wegen Ersatzteilmangels außer Gefecht" ("Self-propelled howitzers disabled due to lack of spare parts") reported that planning errors on the part of the German Ministry of Defense when ordering spare parts increasingly jeopardize the combat readiness of 155 mm/52 German self-propelled howitzers PzH 2000 transferred as military aid to Ukraine. After a total of 14 PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers were delivered to Ukraine, the German Ministry of Defense was unable to order the necessary extensive spare parts packages in time for regular repair of their systems and, thus, to maintain them in working order.
Two 155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzers PzH 2000 that have been repaired on the territory of Lithuania, from among those previously transferred by Germany to Ukraine, October 2022 (c) Ministry of National Defense of LithuaniaThe article says that most of the artillery systems supplied by Germany to Ukraine need to be repaired due to their intensive combat use at the front in eastern Ukraine.
Bundeswehr circles reported that currently Ukrainians are firing about 300 shells a day from them, which causes severe wear of gun systems.
However, recently six German PzH 2000 howitzers were delivered from Ukraine to Lithuania for technical repairs. However, since neither the industry nor the Bundeswehr had the necessary spare parts for these howitzers, the technicians had to disassemble one of these howitzers for spare parts and leave it in Lithuania for a while.
The lack of spare parts does not surprise anyone. At the end of the summer, the Bundeswehr procurement department unsuccessfully notified the German Ministry of Defense of the need to order extensive spare parts packages for PzH 2000 howitzers and MARS II multiple launch rocket systems, since the delivery time of special materials for the manufacture of these packages is very long. However, so far no relevant instructions have been received from the so-called "Sonderstab Ukraine" (Sonderstab Ukraine).
The shortage of spare parts is now paralyzing the so-called repair hub, which Germany wants to create in Slovakia by mid-December to repair weapons delivered to Ukraine.
