Large-Calibre Contracts Go to Rheinmetall
03 November 2006 13:35
Turkey and the Netherlands have recently awarded Rheinmetall AG, of Düsseldorf, contracts for large-calibre ammunition worth some €79 million.
Rheinmetall Defence received an order in December 2005 to supply Turkey with some 15,000 rounds of 120mm KE ammunition (the DM 63, including practice ammunition), in connection with the transfer to Turkey of 298 surplus Leopard 2 main battle tanks from the Bundeswehr inventory. The order is worth around €46 million, and will be delivered between July 2006 and June 2007.
The DM 63 is a tungsten-based kinetic-energy round, with a new temperature-independent powder that makes it perfect for use in extreme-climate zones.
Coming hard on the heels of the decision of Germany's Bundeswehr - an important Rheinmetall reference customer - to buy the new round in summer 2005, the Turkish order represents an important export breakthrough. Potential customers include the approximately twenty nations whose tanks are equipped with 120mm main armament technology from Rheinmetall.
In the artillery domain, the Dutch Army's decision to procure Rheinmetall's newly developed Rh 40 DM 131 round also represents a major step forward, as the Netherlands will be the first nation to field the new ammunition.
Already qualified by the Bundeswehr, the Rh 40 DM 131 has a maximum range of over 40km. Moreover, the use of insensitive explosives in this new 155mm round clearly places it at the forefront of global artillery technology.
Worth around €33 million, the contract encompasses 10,000 artillery shells as well as 67,000 DM 92 modular propelling charges (MTLS), likewise qualified by the Bundeswehr. Delivery will continue until the end of 2007. The Netherlands is buying this package of artillery rounds and propelling charges as part of its PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer procurement programme.
These two orders underscore Rheinmetall's technological predominance in the world of large-calibre weapons and ammunition.
For more information on this company:
Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH - Large Calibre Weapon Systems and Ammunition
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