The Vehicle Built to Replace Germany’s Wiesel, and Why Berlin Cancelled It After One Bid

Germany's Wiesel replacement was cancelled after a single company bid, and the vehicle it was meant to replace has just been parachuted from an A400M for the first time. The successor was the Luftbeweglicher Waffentraeger, or LuWa. The tender opened in September 2023 for 89 vehicles, 56 with a 25 millimetre cannon, 24 with MELLS anti-tank missiles and 9 for driver training. It was reported cancelled in November 2024 after the only bid, from Rheinmetall Electronics with FFG, came in far above the available budget. No euro figure has ever been published by either side, and the procurement office declined to comment. Then in April 2026, Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 61, the Army development office and Luftlandebrigade 1 trialled the ATAX heavy airdrop system from IrvinGQ, using parachutes and reusable soft-landing airbags that let the Wiesel drive straight off its platform. Airdrop was written into the original 1970s requirement and then deleted after four weapon carriers were damaged in testing. The Bundeswehr has never had a way to parachute vehicles into an operational area at all, which is why German paratroopers have no armour and no cannon on the ground until an airstrip is taken. This video breaks down the requirement that made the replacement so hard to build, a 4.5 tonne combat mass cap against a 25 millimetre turret reportedly weighing about 700 kilograms, 90 kilometres per hour on roads, STANAG 4569 protection, and a size limit set by the CH-47F Chinook replacing the CH-53G. It covers the Wiesel 1 life extension contract with FFG, the earlier IABG demonstrator built with ACS and Valhalla Turrets, and the options still open, another Wiesel upgrade, a retender, the wheeled Caracal, or an uncrewed platform. The life-extended fleet is planned out of service around 2030. When the cancellation was reported there were five years left. There are now about three, and no successor has been contracted. The United States cancelled the M10 Booker in 2025 for the opposite reason, and Russia still fields the airdroppable BMD-4M. Since the debt brake reform of March 2025 money is no longer the binding constraint on the German side. Weight, schedule and a single qualified supplier are. #Wiesel #LuWa #Bundeswehr #A400M #Rheinmetall #Fallschirmjaeger #GermanArmy #DefenceProcurement