DGermany, the United Kingdom and the United States are jointly supplying Ukraine with ten MARS II (M270) multiple rocket launchers. This was announced by Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) after a meeting of the Ukraine contact group in Brussels, which coordinates arms deliveries to Kyiv. “This is an extensive package with long-range artillery weapons, just like Ukraine needs now,” Lambrecht said. The Bundeswehr will provide three launchers with “several hundred missiles” from its own stocks, the United Kingdom will also provide three, and the United States will provide four systems. “With this levy, I have gone to the limit of what I can do in order not to endanger the fact that we can no longer guarantee the defense of the country and the alliance as the Bundeswehr,” Lambrecht added.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had announced the delivery of multiple rocket launchers in the Bundestag at the beginning of June; in government circles there had been talk of four systems at the time. London and Washington had also promised this type without naming a number. It is an upgraded variant of the MARS system, which was procured at the end of the Cold War and was intended to be used against larger tank formations. The Bundeswehr owns forty of them. The current announcement is enough to equip a battery with eight launchers and two backup systems. However, the rockets supplied should be used up quickly. The MARS II system can shoot 84 kilometers with precision-guided missiles and hit targets with an accuracy of up to seven meters. This range is “responsible,” said Lambrecht when asked whether Ukraine could also use it to attack targets in Russia. The training should start in June, so that the systems could be delivered to the Ukraine at the end of July or beginning of August.