Foreign Equipment....
Equipment of the Bundeswehr....
The Bundeswehr is the West German inheritor of the German army tradition.  In the former East Germany it was the Nationalen Volksarmee... the National People's Army.  The Bundeswehr was formed in the mid-1950s as a response to the growing threat of Soviet dominated eastern Europe.  The Bundeswehr tried to distance itself from the former Nazi dominated Wehrmacht, yet still brought on board former officers of that regime to help build the force (men such as Hans Speidel, former C of S to Generalfeldmarshall Rommel, and Heinrich Hax, once CO of the 8th Panzer Division in Russia).  The Bundeswehr is a conscript force, and the quality varies.  Some units are quite good, and German Panzer units demonstrated tremendous acumen.  Their equipment has been changing over the years, and some of these vehicles are no longer in service.
German Panzergrenadiers on the move. 
When the Bundeswehr was formed, the organizers sought for a standard machine gun with which to equip their infantry.  They tried U.S., British and French models and were dissatisfied with all.  They finally decided to go back to the WW II era MG-42.  The problem:  the design prints for that machine gun had been lost in the general destruction at the end of the war.  Therefore, an MG-42 was "reverse engineered," and new plans developed with it rechambered to take the NATO 7.62mm round.
The Germans have used a full-tracked vehicle for years as a standard reconnassiance machine.  This is the Schutzenpanzerwagen 11-2.  It is fast and amphibious.  However, the Germans have had a tradition of outstanding 8x8 armored cars, and they decided in the early 1960s to pursue development of such.  These would eventually lead to the phasing out of the 11-2.
The Spahpanzer Luchs (Lynx) signaled the return of the German military to the 8x8 armored car.  Fully amphibious and armed with a 20mm Cannon, and a 7.62mm machine gun, the Luchs can attain speeds up to 60mph.

This vehicle is in a maintenance shop of the Patton Museum.
The Germans developed an entire line of 8x8 armored cars during WW II, like this SdKfz 233 with the L24 75mm gun.  These types of vehicles were complex and difficult to maintain in the field, yet carried the weight of German reconnaissance tasks during the war.  Like the Luchs, these vehicles had a rear driver.

This vehicle was privately restored and displayed at a recent Patton Museum re-enactment.
The primary infantry vehicle for the Bundeswehr is the excellent Marder IFV, for a long time the envy of the rest of NATO.  While other nation's faultered in their own designs for an IFV (U.S. = AIFV program;  UK = MCV-80 Warrior series), the Germans developed a practical and reliable piece of equipment.  Armed with a 30mm auto cannon and Milan ATGM on the turret, as well as a remote controlled machine gun on the rear deck, the Marder allowed German infantry to also fire from within the vehicle, much like the Soviet BMP.

In the photo at left, U.S. infantry officers (in chemical warfare suits... their current MOPP status at Level 2) coordinate a passage of lines through a German position.  Once again, the ever present controllers are to be seen (the German tank officer with the white arm band;  note the beret).