{"id":23568,"date":"2019-03-15T18:25:55","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T18:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/15\/is-germanys-puma-combat-vehicle-still-tickling-the-us-armys-interest\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:59:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:59:54","slug":"is-germanys-puma-combat-vehicle-still-tickling-the-us-armys-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2019\/03\/15\/is-germanys-puma-combat-vehicle-still-tickling-the-us-armys-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Germany\u2019s Puma combat vehicle still tickling the US Army\u2019s interest?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLOGNE, Germany \u2014 German and U.S. military officials had planned, then canceled, a demonstration this week of the Bundeswehr\u2019s Puma infantry fighting vehicle, as the U.S. Army surveys candidates for its Next-Generation Combat Vehicle program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A German Army spokesman confirmed that an event had been scheduled at the Munster tank-training area for Jeffrey White, a deputy to U.S. Army acquisition chief Bruce Jette. White ended up canceling because of a scheduling conflict, the spokesman told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials on both sides of the Atlantic were tight-lipped about the details of the planned visit and whether another date is being explored. It is also unclear which country initiated the contact, though the government interested in another\u2019s hardware would typically lodge the request for a demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apparent curiosity by the U.S. Army in the Puma evokes memories from 2010 and 2011, when the German vehicle, still largely in the development stage at the time, was a contender for the now-defunct Ground Combat Vehicle program. Boeing and SAIC, along with the German manufacturing consortium of Rheinmetall Defence and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, had pitched a modified version of the vehicle for the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\t