After the special forces, riot police forces of the Länder and the Federal Police now also receive modern armoured vehicles. Defence companies compete with models weighing up to 15 tons.
Several dozen police stations in Germany will be equipped with new wheeled tanks. The riot police of the federal states receive 45 modern vehicles for the first time, the Federal Police increases its stock by ten. According to the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, these are „protected“ off-road vehicles and passenger transport vehicles. Parliamentary State Secretary Stefan Mayer calls them „Sonderwagen 5“ („Special Car“, SW 5), but the Federal Police no longer wants to use this term.
With this major order, the Ministry wants to replace the „Sonderwagen 4“ (SW 4), which has been used by the Federal Government and the Länder since 1984. Its manufacturer, the Kassel-based armaments group Thyssen Henschel, which has since been taken over by Rheinmetall, has long ceased production. The Federal Police use the old wheeled tanks only at airports, where they are partly armed with a machine gun. All other SW4s were sold to the Bundeswehr and Macedonia. „More tanks for German police“ weiterlesen