Update: Bundeswehr upgrades Fennek reconnaissance vehicles

The BAAINBw has awarded KNDS Deutschland a contract to upgrade the German Army's Fennek reconnaissance vehicles. (Bundeswehr)

The Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr (BAAINBw), Germany's Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology, and In-Service Support, announced in a press release on 25 July that it has awarded KNDS Deutschland a contract to upgrade the German Army's Fennek reconnaissance vehicles.

The BAAINBw said 30 Fennek 1A2 reconnaissance vehicles and 50 Joint Fire Support Team (JFST) Fenneks would receive the latest standard Beobachtungs- und Aufklärungsausstattung (BAA) III observation and reconnaissance sets. It added that the upgrade would give the Bundeswehr reconnaissance and identification capabilities adapted for national and alliance defence, with an operational reserve of BAA IIIs that will increase the vehicles' readiness for training, exercises, and operations. A BAAINBw spokesperson told Janes on 30 July, “The aim of the contract, among other things, is to adapt the BAA of the Fennek reconnaissance vehicle to the operational requirements [of national and alliance defence] scenarios through technical improvements so that the ability to identify targets for the core reconnaissance mission corresponds to the current state of technology, and crew survivability is increased as far as possible. In addition, the elimination of obsolescence, and if necessary, the reuse of the components removed will increase the availability and operational readiness of the Fennek fleet in the medium term.”

Deliveries of the new BAA IIIs, including the operational reserve, are scheduled for 2027–29. The BAAINBw and KNDS Deutschland declined when asked by Janes to give the value of the contract.