German Marder IFVs: A battlefield game-changer for Ukraine

Ukrainians have a unique opportunity to compare many Western infantry fighting vehicles in wartime conditions. Here's what a Ukrainian, previously serving on the Soviet-era BMP-2, thinks about the German Marder.

Ukraine received about 80 Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) from Germany, which, according to their Cold War-era designers' intentions, are fighting against Soviet equipment. However, the terrain is different—not Germany, but Ukraine, and in recent weeks, even Russia.

A Ukrainian serving on the Kun (Marder in German means Marten) is very pleased and particularly praises the speed of detecting and attacking targets and the protection provided by the armour.

The Ukrainian says that while the BMP-2 can fire 15-16 shots at a detected target, the Marder can fire 150-200 shots. In terms of protection, the Marder is impervious to fire from the 2A42 30-mm cannon, while the Rh-202 20-mm automatic cannon can easily shoot through its Soviet counterpart.

The German Marten also has very good side protection, so ambushes using machine guns, even loaded with armour-piercing ammunition, and grenades (most likely PG-7VL or similar) have no effect on it. Below is a comment from a Ukrainian serving on the Marder.

"Even during an assault when you fall into an ambush and they shoot at you with machine guns, you know they won't harm you. Even if a grenade flies in your direction, you don't feel fear because you know the armour will protect you."

Created in Germany in the 1960s, the Marder was the first new-generation infantry fighting vehicle in NATO. Similar to the Soviet BMP-1 from the same period, the vehicle featured innovative solutions. Previous armoured personnel carriers were open, poorly armed, and their main task was to transport infantry to the battlefield and then quickly retreat.

Meanwhile, like the Russians, the Germans designed a very well-armoured structure with high firepower that could additionally support the transported landing force and even engage tanks.

The Marder's crew consisted of three soldiers, and in the rear, there was space for a seven-member armoured infantry squad. A unique feature of the Marder was a remote-controlled turret equipped, among other things, with a 20-mm Rheinmetall MK 20 Rh-202 autocannon, capable of quickly switching between fragmentation and armour-piercing ammunition, an MG3 machine gun, and a Milan guided anti-tank missile launcher capable of penetrating even 700 mm of steel armour.

This meant that the entire crew was in the hull, and a hit to the turret could damage the armament, but the crew had a better chance of survival. On the other hand, access to the armament was difficult, complicating, for example, the removal of jams. In such a case, a crew member had to go outside and fix the malfunction through inspection hatches.

The main cannon enables engaging targets at distances up to 2.5 km, and the Milan anti-tank missiles allow the destruction of tanks from a distance of up to 2 km. All these features made the Marder a very costly vehicle used exclusively by the Bundeswehr. Only after the end of the Cold War, due to sales prompted by German budget cuts, did some of the approximately 2,000 produced Marders end up in other countries.

Ukraine received the 1A3 version, which was modernized in the 1990s, including armour reinforcement and the application of a thermal imaging sight for the gunner. Despite its age, it is still an effective design, especially against Soviet-era relics that now make up the majority of Russian armed forces.