Lynx: The German Fighting Vehicle Germany Itself Will Not Buy

Hungary, Italy, Romania and Ukraine all bought the Rheinmetall Lynx KF41. The Bundeswehr never ordered a single one. Here is why Germany chose the Puma instead, and what that decision cost. The Lynx KF41 is a German infantry fighting vehicle that Rheinmetall developed as a private venture for the export market, unveiled at Eurosatory in 2018 after the smaller KF31 appeared in 2016. It is modular, built around a common tracked drive module with swappable mission kits, and it carries the Lance 2.0 turret with a 30 or 35 mm cannon. Rheinmetall designed it around mature sub-systems specifically to make it easier and cheaper to maintain than the Bundeswehr's own Puma. The export record speaks for itself. Hungary signed in August 2020 for more than 2 billion euros and now builds the Lynx at Zalaegerszeg. Italy's A2CS programme with Leonardo reaches toward 1,050 vehicles, with the first four handed over at Montelibretti in January 2026. Romania selected the Lynx over the ASCOD and the Hanwha Redback and signed in May 2026 for 298 vehicles worth 3.337 billion euros. Ukraine has received German-funded vehicles under a December 2025 contract. Germany bought none of it. The Bundeswehr's heavy brigades use the Puma, ordered in 2009 and expanded again in December 2025 with 200 more vehicles for roughly 4.2 billion euros. The medium forces get the Schakal, a wheeled Boxer carrying the Puma's own RCT30 turret, approved in October 2025. Neither programme ever ran a competition the Lynx could enter. This video covers the Puma's December 2022 breakdown at Bergen, where all 18 vehicles failed inside eight days, the availability record from 48 percent in 2016 to 86 of 350 vehicles in December 2025, the federal audit office recommendation to break off contract negotiations, the Marder fleet behind it all, and the per-vehicle cost gap between the Puma and the Lynx. It closes with the question everyone asks when they see the export list next to the German order book. Figures are sourced to the German Ministry of Defence, Bundestag budget committee decisions, federal audit office findings, Rheinmetall and Leonardo releases, and the German defence press. Vendor claims are attributed as vendor claims, and disputed numbers are flagged in the narration. #Lynx #RheinmetallLynx #Bundeswehr #Puma #Rheinmetall #GermanArmy #EuropeanDefence #DefenceProcurement