Thursday, September 04, 2014

Germany and France Team up to Make the Next Super Tank

Who would have thought this was possible after WW2. KMW is a private German company and Nexter is owned by the French government.

KMW and Nexter say their new firm will employ more than 6,000 workers generating nearly $2.7 billion in annual revenue. With $8.8 billion in backlogged orders for weapons systems to be built, the company would have enough work to keep itself busy for more than three years, right from the start.

The combined companies would offer their customers everything the modern armored army needs to roll, too: 155mm towed and self-propelled guns, anti-aircraft guns, and tracked and wheeled armored personnel carriers. The most famous products, though, would be France's Leclerc main battle tank (from Nexter) and Germany's Leopard 2 -- a 62-ton beast of a weapons system, featuring a 120mm Rheinmetall smoothbore cannon that can penetrate 22 inches of solid steel from a range of 1.3 miles. One of KMW's most popular products, the company has sold 3,200 Leopard 2s to 16 separate armies.

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