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One of the most powerful and modern main battle tanks in the world: The
Leopard 2
has been built by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann since 1978
Photo: SASCHA STEINBACH / EPA
The latest model weighs 64 tons, can reach speeds of up to 63 km/h and has a firing range of up to 5000 meters with its smoothbore gun.
This makes the Leopard 2 A7 one of the most powerful and modern main battle tanks in the world.
At least since the decision by Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
(64; SPD) and other Western allies to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine after all, the focus has been on the question: who actually builds and delivers the war machine?
The interest in the leopard symbolizes the change of heart in Germany.
The armaments industry has tended to operate in the semidark in recent decades.
The devastating war in Ukraine puts the industry in a new light.
And the Leopard 2, in the production of which many of the big defense companies are involved, plays a special role in this.
A joint project that is now helping to improve the image of German industry.
The main manufacturer is the armaments company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), which builds the hull, i.e. the lower part of the tank and thus its outer shell.
The first Leopard tanks rolled out of the factory gates of the company founded in 1838 as early as 1965, and the successor model, the Leopard 2, has been in production since the 1970s.
Since then, KMW has manufactured more than 3500 Leopard 2 tanks and is now Europe's largest tank builder.
In addition to the main battle tank, the Munich-based company also builds the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, the Gepard anti-aircraft gun tank and a range of wheeled vehicles.
Eight years ago, the private company, which has been managed by the rather reserved
Frank Haun
(63) since 2006, merged with the French defense company Nexter.
The joint venture is controlled by the Dutch holding company KNDS, which in turn is owned equally by the owner families behind KMW and the French state.
KNDS does not provide insight into the figures of the individual companies.
It is only known that the entire group generated sales of 2.4 billion euros with around 8,270 employees in 2020 - KMW employs around 4,000 people.
KMW needs Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall is KMW's most important partner in the construction of the Leopard tank.
The Düsseldorf-based company, which was founded in 1889 as "Rheinische Metallwaren- und Maschinenbaufabrik Aktiengesellschaft", supplies the battle tank's main weapon, a smoothbore weapon system. Rheinmetall also supplies the fire control system, i.e. the technology with the help of which a projectile can be aimed as precisely as possible.
CEO
Armin Papperger
(59), who has headed the group for ten years, revealed in an interview with "Stern" that Rheinmetall is aiming for a pre-tax profit margin of at least 10 percent for the Leopard 2.
With a sales price of between three and nine million euros per vehicle, depending on the equipment, there is still a decent profit left - even if it is of rather limited importance for the entire group.
However, the Leopard 2 inspires the imagination of investors.
The Rheinmetall share, which was listed at just under 96 euros before the start of the Ukraine war, increased significantly last year anyway.
On the day of the official confirmation of the Leopard delivery by the federal government, the paper then reached a record high of 232 euros.
The company's valuation was now around ten billion euros, and Rheinmetall is now even traded as a new Dax member.
Investors only price in the possible development of Rheinmetall in advance.
Because so far, according to CEO Papperger, the company has "not received a single order" from the special fund set up by the federal government.
The "turning point" proclaimed by the chancellor cannot yet be read from the proceeds.
In the third quarter of 2022, Rheinmetall with its 25,000 employees worldwide generated sales of 4.1 billion euros - an increase of only 6.5 percent compared to the same period last year, when there was still no war.
The operating result increased by 9 percent to 323 million euros.
More recent figures are not yet available.
Nevertheless, Papperger is optimistic and raises Rheinmetall's medium-term sales forecast.
The CEO now assumes that sales will increase to eleven to twelve billion euros by 2025.
In November, the armaments group had assumed ten to eleven billion euros.
Papperger expects sales of 6.5 billion euros for the past financial year.
For comparison: In 2021, Rheinmetall generated sales of 5.7 billion euros.
These are the suppliers
When building the Leopard tank, the two tank manufacturers KMW and Rheinmetall are of course dependent on a number of suppliers - and these also include prominent representatives of the German armaments industry.
For example, the Augsburg gearbox manufacturer and armaments supplier Renk produces the gearbox for the vehicle.
The company was founded 150 years ago as a gear workshop and even belonged to the car manufacturer Volkswagen at one point.
Today, the German-Swedish financial investor Triton is the owner and Renk generates around 75 percent of its business of 800 million euros (2021) with the defense industry.
Since May 2021, the 3,000 employees have been managed by
Susanne Wiegand
(50), one of the few top managers in the industry.
She too laments the federal government's lack of energy: "We've been at war for eleven months and still not much has happened," she recently told the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The Leopard tank's diesel engine comes from the Rolls-Royce group, which builds the drives in Friedrichshafen under the MTU brand name.
The armaments company Diehl supplies the armored tracks.
And the armor steel comes from the Swedish steel company SSAB.
Production of a main battle tank takes several years
It is clear that the companies involved will not benefit from the Leopard deliveries to Ukraine in the short term.
The 14 Leopard 2 tanks mentioned by Chancellor Scholz come from the Bundeswehr.
The hope is, however, that the federal government will replenish stocks and order modern tanks - that would mean: new business for KMW, Rheinmetall and Co.
However, it must be said that the production of a Leopard 2 tank usually takes several years.
For example, Hungary ordered 44 new Leopard 2 A7 tanks from KMW at the end of 2018.
However, the first models will not be delivered to the Hungarian troops until this year.
Even for the repair of old models, as is currently being done in the Rheinmetall factory, around a year is estimated.
The reason for the long delivery times is disarmament.
Since the end of the Cold War, defense spending has been cut further and further, and companies have cut their capacities accordingly.
Today there is a lack of important specialists such as welders for armor steel or engineers.
All of this has to be painstakingly rebuilt and takes time.
Without the corresponding orders, however, the companies will not invest.
"The industry needs planning security," Rheinmetall CEO Papperger demanded recently at an industry event.
