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Germany reverses stand, rejects Israel's request for APC

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, November 29, 2002

LONDON Ñ Germany has rejected an Israeli request for a wheeled armored personnel carrier that can operate during a nonconventional weapons attack in a reversal of its position reported recently.

The government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said it would not fulfill an Israeli request for the advanced Fuchs armored vehicle. Officials said Berlin was concerned that the combat vehicle would be used in the Palestinian war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Officials acknowledged that the government first signalled that it would approve the Israeli request, Middle East Newsline reported. But they said Berlin had confused the Israeli request for a nonconventional weapons detection system of the same name.

Both systems are manufactured by the German company Rheinmetall Landsysteme. "On closer inspection of the request, it was realized that the Israeli army was not seeking Fuchs detection units but the Fuchs armored personnel carriers," the German Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry statement was released on Wednesday hours after Schroeder reported that the government was considering the request for what he termed armored detection units against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. He said Germany has "no reservations" about selling such defensive systems.

Officials said the Israeli request was actually for the Fuch armored personnel carrier. The six-wheeled vehicle carries advanced systems to determine if an area was contaminated by biological or chemical weapons.

This is the latest version of the standard Fuchs APC. The vehicle, armed with a 7.62 mm machine gun, has a crew of two and can transport up to 10 soldiers.

The non-combat Fuchs model is meant to protect civilian and military personnel in wake of a nuclear, biological or chemical weapons [NBC] attack. Six Fuchs systems have been deployed in Kuwait to protect against an Iraqi nonconventional missile attack.

Israel was said to have purchased eight of an earlier model of the M93A1 NBC reconnaissance vehicle after the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The United States obtained 60 such vehicles and over the last decade upgraded them with communications equipment, weapons, smoke grenade launchers and air conditioning.

Rheinmetall has offered a range of NBC vehicles to prospective clients. They include the Fuchs NBC Reconnaissance System and a variant, Fuchs Biological Reconnaissance System. The reconnaissance system contains a chemical agent monitor that detects nerve, blood and skin agents in the vehicle. It also contains a central data processing unit, meteorological station and NBC-marking equipment.

Germany has agreed to supply at least two PAC-2 anti-aircraft and anti-missile batteries to Israel. The German army plans to retire six such systems.

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