Yesterday, the German government published the latest deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine, with which they are supporting them in their fight against the Russian aggression.
The extensive list, which covers the deliveries of the past around five weeks, not only disclosed particularly wide-ranging deliveries of various drone systems to the Ukrainian armed forces, but also included eight Caracal light air assault vehicles for the first time.
But what the Caracal actually is, where it will most likely be used in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and why the announcement of the delivery simultaneously didn’t surprise me and still caught me off guard is the subject of this article.
The Caracal light air assault vehicle
The Caracal light air assault vehicle was developed thanks to a cooperation between Rheinmetall, Mercedes-Benz, and ACS.
It is based on the latest generation Mercedes-Benz G-Class chassis (464 series) and is available in different variants both as a 4×4 and as a 6×6 platform.
Image: RheinmetallThe Caracal was specially designed to meet the needs of airmobile formations and special operations forces (SOF) and is so convincing in its role that Rheinmetall was able to land a major order from the German and Dutch armed forces over a year ago.
The framework contract signed in July 2023 includes the delivery of up to 3,058 vehicles worth around €1.9 billion. In an initial order, 1,508 vehicles — 1,004 for the Bundeswehr and 504 for the Koninklijke Landmacht — worth around €870 million were called off.
With a length of 4.735 metres, a width of 1.81 metres and a height of 1.85 metres, the Caracal is one of the most compact vehicles of its kind and, thanks to its low weight of less than three tonnes, can be easily transported in various heavy transport helicopters and aircraft.
Thanks to the performant 6-cylinder EURO3 diesel engine from Mercedes-Benz and an all-wheel drive, the vehicle is very off-road capable and can even overcome a gradient of up to 60%.
Finally, I would just like to mention that various standard infantry weapons and ATGM weapons can be mounted and optional ballistic and mine protection (Level 1 STANAG 4569) can be retrofitted in the doors and the vehicle floor to increase crew safety.
Image: RheinmetallThe surprise that isn’t really a surprise
How can a delivery not be a surprise and still catch me off guard? An interesting question that is easy to answer.
The deliveries were announced several times by the manufacturer Rheinmetall, but for some reason unknown to me were never included by the German government in their official military assistance list.
I simply thought never to see them officially mentioned somewhere by the German government.
Over a year ago, Rheinmetall announced in a press release regarding the delivery of further Leopard 1 systems that it would be supplying Caracals to Ukraine.
Five vehicles financed by the German government were to be delivered between late 2023 and early 2024. Upon my enquiry, a company spokesperson confirmed this information once again.
These vehicles are most likely part of a €20 million support package for the Ukrainian SOF, which was announced by the German Ministry of Defence just one month earlier in October 2023.
The package included not only weapons and personal equipment but also vehicles. In addition to Caracal light air assault vehicles, the deliveries also very likely included up to 50 E-Bike EMUs.
Image: Special Operations Centre EastThis was claimed just a single day after the German Ministry of Defence’s announcement by the German defence publication cpm Defence Network with reference to “well-informed circles”.
In fact, the Ukrainian Special Operations Centre East published pictures of these e-bikes in use by Ukrainian SOF a few months later, which for me mostly confirms the reporting.
While Rheinmetall never wanted to confirm the delivery of the first batch despite my enquiries, the German defence giant announced in late February 2024 at the Enforce Tac defence trade fair that it would deliver another 20 Caracal light air assault vehicles on behalf of the German government.
This brings the number of total pledged vehicles to 25. Back in February, Rheinmetall stated that the delivery of the 20 newly pledged ones should take place in the “next few months”.
Considering that the delivery of a total of eight vehicles has now been made public for the first time, it seems to have taken around eight months for the first vehicles from the second contract to be delivered.
Interestingly, however, neither were the five vehicles from the first pledge nor the twelve vehicles still outstanding from the second pledge added to the official list maintained by the German government.
However, this has less to do with the fact that these deliveries or pledges do not exist and more to do with the fact that the list is actually relatively poorly maintained, and new errors regularly find their way in.
In the end, there’s only one thing left to say. Thanks to the official announcement, it is now much more likely that one or two images or videos of Ukrainian SOF in action along with a Caracal will find their way onto the internet, giving us more insight in how they are being used and how they perform.
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