In the middle of news on Russian troops advance slowly on the Ukrainian capital Kyivet the bombardments and civilian casualties reported daily, Germany has decided to send defensive weapons to former Soviet countries, including Strela light-weight, shoulder shot, area-to-air missile or MANPADS.
However, there may be a problem caraccording to local reports, a large part of these missiles are no longer operational car they have been for a long time left to rot in storage facilities.
Earlier, it was claimed that the European country should send a total of 2,700 Strela missiles, although delivery has not yet been approved.
The Soviet-made missiles belonged to the People’s National Army (ANV) of whaton formerly called the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or East Germany.
The question was whether these missiles still worked, and according to the German weekly Der Spiegel, they absolutely do not.
Some 700 missiles in the delivery is no longer operational, reported Der Spiegel, which was later quoted also by the daily tabloid Bild.
The Federal Office for Equipment exports consist of verifying material before the delivery of the missiles are approved by the Federal Security Council.
Reports noted that the rockets are at least 35 years old and have been blocked from use in 2012 due to “microcracks in the propellant charge of the ammunition, which resulted in corrosion/oxidation.”
The Spiegel also pointed out that the wooden crates in where the rockets are stored were so moldy that the Bundeswehr soldiers in November were only allowed to enter the storage facilities with protective equipment.
Germany on Saturday decided to deliver some 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger ground-to-air missiles to Ukraine.
Stingers and rocket-propelled grenades have arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday. In addition, NATO partners, the Netherlands and Estonia, have also authorized to supply Ukraine with weapons from German production or from East German stock.
