The Bundeswehr is to get new field kitchens as quickly as possible. Just ten months after the contract was signed, the near-series test model is in northern Norway, where practical tests are to be carried out. During this integrated verification, a team from the Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use of the Bundeswehr, together with representatives of the troops and the manufacturer, checks the product to see whether the required performance requirements and the tactical and logistical readiness for use are achieved.
In March 2020, the Bundeswehr ordered a first batch of 85 mobile field kitchens from a framework contract for a total of 400 field kitchens - ESuTreported. As soon as proof of performance has been successfully completed and approval for use (GeNu) has been granted, series production will be released. Kärcher Futuretech, as the main contractor, will begin this year and deliver the first 40 mobile field kitchens by the end of 2022, which will then be ready in time for use in the spearhead of the NATO VJTF 2023. The remaining 40 kitchens – and probably another six – are to be delivered in equal installments by 2024.
The cold test as part of the tactical test will continue until February 4th near Overbygd in northern Norway, north of the Arctic Circle. Temperatures down to -25 degrees place high demands on the devices and the testing team. The first task was to unload the containers and set up the field kitchen without external help. Then the frost brought the system into a deep-freeze state, which was the intended hurdle for the first commissioning.
The systems were started up with excitement according to the operating instructions until the field kitchen was available for the first catering operation after the drinking water system had been filled. The grateful recipient was the 233 Mountain Infantry Battalion from Mittenwald, which was training on site at the same time and received the entire day's rations from the test model. The kitchen has to provide four operating cycles: breakfast, lunch and evening meals as well as a meal at midnight (so-called middle guard).
“The required self-sufficiency for the field kitchen is proven even at extremely low temperatures,” writes the Bundeswehr on its website. Further details of the performance requirements will be reviewed until the cold test is completed on February 4, 2021.
The signs are good that the troops at the VJTF 2023 can be fed from modern mobile field kitchens.
Gerhard Heiming
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