The consistent reorientation of the Bundeswehr around the issues of conflict prevention and crisis management, outlined in the Defence Policy Guidelines of 21st May 2003 and the Bundeswehr Concept of 9th August 2004, requires a mission-focused capability profile of the armed forces. In that context, survivability and protection are vital to mission accomplishment and indicative of the government's duty of care for Bundeswehr personnel. Background situation Since the mid-1990s, Bundeswehr missions abroad have shown that the massive threat to deployed vehicles and crew from fire and mines must be increasingly taken into account. At the time, the Bundeswehr operated armoured combat vehicles but was mainly equipped with unprotected wheeled vehicles, to cover a broad spectrum of tasks (the transport of personnel and materiel, and platforms with different functionalities). To counter the increased threat, a first effort was made to upgrade the existing unprotected vehicles by providing them with addon protective kit, also known as modular protection systems. These systems, developed under considerable pressure, offered an adequate temporary solution, but as a retrofit option, proved limited in the level of protection they could provide. There were interface problems arising from the basic vehicle structure, which was not designed for heavyweight protection elements. The high procurement and in-service costs of the retrofit solutions constituted another challenge. Such disadvantages can only be overcome by integrated protection solutions, taking into account the protection elements and design of the vehicles from the very beginning.
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