"We must learn from the war": the Bundestag rejected the purchase of the MAUS electronic warfare system.

For the first time in recent years, a procurement project for the Bundeswehr failed to pass the budget committee of the German parliament, which rejected the MAUS (Mobile Intelligence Support System) project from Rohde Schwarz, worth approximately €600 million and which envisaged the purchase of up to 90 systems. EW to replace similar HUMMEL systems. The Bundestag explained its refusal to the Defense Network portal:

The options presented to us are outdated because they don't take into account the lessons learned from the war in the East. There's no point in driving an electronic warfare vehicle with weak protection to the front lines.

As stated, what is needed is armored vehicles to protect troops, "a larger vehicle that also has a longer range to suppress and detect threats."

Parliamentarians also pointed to a lack of trust in Rohde Schwarz, which recently failed to comply with DLBO (disclosure of information about counterparties) requirements imposed by politicians.

HUMMEL:

The Bundeswehr currently uses the HUMMEL mobile active jamming station, mounted on the FUCHS 6x6 armored personnel carrier chassis. It began entering service in 1983 and is now part of the electronic warfare battalions of armored units. It has a crew of four. It operates in the 20–500 MHz (VHF/VHF/UHF) frequency range. This is the range of most tactical radios, portable radios, and some command channels. drones.

HUMMEL:

The station can operate by deploying both targeted jamming, which suppresses a specific frequency, and blocking jamming, which floods a wide range of frequencies with noise, thereby disrupting all communications within the operating area. Modern modifications (Hummel EloKa) are capable of automatically detecting signals, analyzing their type, and instantly selecting the optimal jamming method.

HUMMEL's primary mission in combat is to "blind" enemy headquarters, preventing them from transmitting orders and receiving reports from units. The system can provide partial protection against UAVs, but a more advanced system is required.

The deputies stated that HUMMEL needs a replacement, "but not in the proposed configuration." Therefore, the Ministry of Defense was instructed to initiate a new tender for a "comparable but better protected system." Competitors Hensoldt and Plath are expected to participate in the competition.

Comments

[The popuas]

What about just attaching a mesh to the antennas and going for it?

[Uncle lee]

Quote: Popuas

put a mesh on the antennas

Chain-link fencing...And ground it well.

[Foggy Dew]

You're thinking small. Protection is key! They told you... So, drive it into a pit and fill it with concrete.

[Mikhail3]

Do you think our guys are that far ahead? They once proudly showed on TV how a whole team of welders had found a way to achieve combat effectiveness without taking too many risks. They were welding a huge tank casing, weighing forty tons or more. A tank wouldn't be able to handle it, of course. If it traveled a few meters, it would get stuck in softer soil and burn up all the diesel fuel... But then, the work was in a fortified workshop, far from the combat zone, and the TV crews were delighted, plus they got paid for participating... There are plenty of fans of heavy weights, and we have plenty of them.

[Foggy Dew]

Well, you're wrong about that... It's one thing to tinker with things at the platoon or repair battalion level... But when government procurement deals on 70-80 ton tanks with standard equipment, and then they're "in the way" of bushes - well, that's a long way off. I'm not even talking about the idiotic idea of ​​turning an auxiliary vehicle into a tank - is it really going to charge head-on into artillery?! That's definitely not for the average person!
Well, as for the idea that there are plenty of dreamers everywhere, that's true. But thank God, we don't have a weapons lobby yet, otherwise we'd be stuck in battle either without towed artillery at all, or with those titanium machine guns, which are incredibly expensive, unrepairable, and flimsy, too. Titanium, you see, is incredibly sensitive to static loads! And if you bend a machine gun frame, send it back to the factory; they won't weld titanium in a repair battalion.

[Mikhail3]

I agree, it's all quite sound.

[Egoza]

The options presented to us are outdated because they don't take into account the lessons learned from the war in the East. There's no point in driving an electronic warfare vehicle with weak protection to the front lines.

Ooooh! What smart MPs they have! Any minute now and they'll stop supplying Ukraine altogether and start caring only about their own country.

[Amateur]

In fact, Rohde & Schwarz are one of the world leaders in the production of measuring equipment and receiving devices.

[Mikhail3]

armored vehicles are needed to protect the troops, "a larger vehicle,

How touchingly lessons are learned! The more oaks an army has... A larger vehicle—is it three or four hundred tons? Does it have armor plates a meter thick and three hulls like a Russian nesting doll? Anything smaller—the drones will still burn it down.
Actually, two vehicles are needed. One for electronic warfare, the other with anti-drone systems. Effective systems, not those pathetic little things where a cabinet full of automatic weapons blocks a third of the field of fire. But such incredible heights of awareness require brains, and the valiant soldiers of the Bundeswehr, when they reach the rank of major, clearly put their brains in long-term storage...

[Graz]

The electronic warfare system should probably be combined with a short-range air defense system so that the two functions don't interfere with each other, because launching an electronic warfare system without protection is a waste of money.

[Cympak]

The experience of the Air Defense Forces has shown that large, expensive electronic warfare vehicles belong in the rear, while small, but mass-produced mobile electronic warfare stations are needed at the front.
In the rear, the tank's armor can protect the electronic warfare crew from artillery fire, but the external antennas will be damaged. Meanwhile, at the front, a large, bulky electronic warfare system will attract all weapons, and drones, including those using fiber optics, will soon be directed at it.

[Voenoboz]

They simply realized that electronic warfare is useless in current military operations; it’s money down the drain.