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KNDS Deutschland

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Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryDefence
Predecessors
Founded1999; 25 years ago (1999)
Headquarters
Munich
,
Germany
Areas served
Germany, EU, worldwide
Key people
  • Frank Haun (managing director)
  • Manfred Bode (chairman)
Revenue1,680,000,000 United States dollar (2018) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
2,771 (2014)
Parentsince 2015 KNDS
Websiteknds.de/en

KNDS Deutschland GmbH & Co, formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG (KMW), is an arms industry company based in Munich, Germany. The company produces military weapons and vehicles, including tanks, self-propelled artillery, and other armoured vehicles.

KMW was formed in 1999 when the defense division of KraussMaffei Group was spun off and merged with Wegmann & Co. In 2015, KMW became part of KMW+Nexter Defense Systems (KNDS),[1] and in 2024 it was renamed KNDS Deutschland.[2]

History

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KMW's predecessor company, Krauss-Maffei, started in 1931 from a merger of the two Munich firms of Maffei (founded 1838) and Krauss & Co. (founded 1860). Both belonged to the leading German makers of locomotives of various types. Maffei also built other steam-operated vehicles and, later, manufactured vehicles with combustion engines, including locomotives, trolleybuses and buses. In the 1960s, Kraus-Maffei entered production of armoured fighting vehicles, starting with Leopard 1 tanks for the Bundeswehr.

In 1999 defense production was spun off and merged with Wegmann & Co to form Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. Wegman had a 51% stake and Mannesmann AG, Kraus-Maffei's holding company at the time, had a 49% stake.[1] Siemens acquired Mannesmann's share in 2000.[3]

Wegmann Unternehmens-Holding KG, based in Kassel, bought the Siemens stake in December 2010 to become the sole shareholder of KMW.[3] This holding company was owned by about 26 silent partners, all members of the families Bode, von Braunbehrens, von Maydell and Sethe and all descendants of the firm's founders or the later owners of Wegmann & Co.[4][5]

In 2012, KMW acquired WFEL, a British company that descended from the Fairey Aviation Company.[6]

In 2013 and 2014, about 80% of the firm's sales came from the export market, continuing a fifteen-year trend of exporting a large portion of production.[7][8][9]

In 2014, the firm had 3,200 employees and €1 billion in sales, and the cost of a Leopard 2 tank was roughly €10 million.[10] In 2014 KMW faced fines of up to €400 million because it had bribed Greek officials in the sale of tanks, and the German government was considering lifting its permission to export.[10][11]

In December 2015,[12][13] Krauss-Maffei Wegmann joined with the French state-owned defence company Nexter Systems to form KMW+Nexter Defense Systems, a new holding company half owned by KMW's old private owners and half owned by the French state.[14] Rumoured as early as July 2014, the combined company was set to employ 6,000 people and have a yearly revenue of around €2 billion,[15] plus an order book of €9 billion.[13] French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was content at the prospect of consolidating the terrestrial armoury of Europe.[15]

Tank test track

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The company has been running a tank test route in Allach since 1964, the building law of which is controversial. When KMW applied for an expansion of the operating hours in spring 2018, this met with resistance in parts of the residential and the district committee.[16] At the end of 2020, the citizens' initiative "School instead of tank" submitted a petition to the Bavarian state parliament with a complaint against the test track. [17] In the still ongoing petition procedure, the Ministry of the Environment made the statement that there was no existing protection for the circuit on Ludwigsfelder Straße and that the system was not approved in terms of building law. In addition, in October 2021, a lawsuit was submitted to the Munich Administrative Court in October 2021.[18] In mid -January 2022, IG Metall campaigned for the preservation of the route, since 1650 jobs were in danger without it.[19]

Products

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By defense division of KraussMaffei:

By Krauss-Maffei Wegmann:

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References

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  1. ^ a b "History - KMW".
  2. ^ "Uniform brand identity: Land defence group KNDS completes the legal renaming of its Group companies" (Press release). Amsterdam, Netherlands: KNDS. 9 April 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Defence professionals". 2010-12-18. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  4. ^ "Der Panzer-Clan von Krauss-Maffei". Capital (in German). Hamburg, Germany: Gruner + Jahr. 22 June 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Rüstungsfirma Kraus-Maffei Wegmann – Stur wie ein Panzer", Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German), 21 Jun 2012.
  6. ^ "Krauss-Maffei Wegmann on its acquisition of WFEL | Steen Associates".
  7. ^ Cabirol, Michel (11 February 2015). "Berlin ne pourra "pas bloquer" les exportation de Nexter (Emmanuel Macron)". La Tribune (in French). Paris, France. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  8. ^ Cabirol, Michel (25 January 2015). "Nexter/Krauss-Maffei : un rapprochement à n'importe quel prix ?". La Tribune (in French). Paris, France. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  9. ^ van den Ende, Patrick (June 2014). "Industrie de l'armement terrestre : chiffres clés 2013". DEFENSE & Industries: la revue (in French). Foundation for Strategic Research. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  10. ^ a b Madelin, Thibault (1 July 2014). "Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, un champion allemand aussi secret que fragile". Les Echos (in French). Paris, France. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Greek Land Forces and German Bribery". Corruption Tracker: Documenting Corruption in the Arms Trade. Shadow World Investigations. 12 September 2022 [7 November 2020]. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Nexter Systems and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann have completed their association". 16 December 2015.
  13. ^ a b "Armement : Nexter Systems et Krauss-Maffei Wegmann ont finalisé leur alliance". 16 December 2015.
  14. ^ "Nexter Systems and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann have completed their association" (Press release). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Nexter Group. 15 December 2015. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
  15. ^ a b Ruello, Alain (1 July 2014). "Coup d'envoi à l'Airbus de l'armement terrestre". Les Echos (in French). Paris, France. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Panzerteststrecke: Keine Ausweitung der Betriebszeiten". Münchner Wochenanzeiger (in German). Munich, Germany. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Presse & Dokumente: Petition (Bayerischer Landtag) vom 28.12.2020". www.schule-statt-panzer.de. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  18. ^ "Klagen gegen Stadt und Rüstungskonzern". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Munich, Germany. 15 October 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  19. ^ "Gewerkschaft kämpft für Erhalt von Panzer-Teststrecke". Der Spiegel (in German). Hamburg, Germany. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Donar 155-mm Self-Propelled Howitzer". Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  21. ^ "The new Terrier 4x4 armoured personnel carrier from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann of Germany 0912146 | weapons defence industry military technology UK | analysis focus army defence military industry army". 9 December 2014.
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