Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG (KMW) is an arms industry company based in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The company produces various types of equipment as well as

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

self-propelled artillery Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

, and other armoured vehicles. KMW was formed in 1999 when the defense division of KraussMaffei Group was spun-off and merged with

Wegmann & Co The form coach factory of Wegmann & Co. was founded in 1882 in Kassel (then ''Cassel'') by ''Kommerzienrat'', Peter Wegmann, and Richard Harkort as the Casseler Waggonfabriken von Wegmann, Harkort & Co. In 1886 it changed its name to Wegmann & C ...

. Since 2015, KMW is part of

KMW+Nexter Defense Systems KMW may refer to: * Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, a German heavy equipment manufacturing company * ''Klosterneuburger Mostwaage'', a scale for must weight in winemaking primarily used in Austria, and originally the name of a piece of equipment for doing t ...

History

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

of various types. Maffei also built other steam-operated vehicles and, later, manufactured vehicles with combustion engines, including locomotives, trolleybuses and

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

. In 1960s Kraus-Maffei entered production of

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured car ...

s, starting with

Leopard 1 The Leopard 1 (also styled Leopard I, before the Leopard 2 simply known as Leopard) is a main battle tank designed and produced by Porsche in West Germany that first entered service in 1965. Developed in an era when HEAT warheads were thought ...

tanks for the Bundeswehr. In 1999 defense production was spun off and merged with

to form Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. Wegman had a 51% stake and

Mannesmann AG Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pi ...

, Kraus-Maffei's holding company at the time, had a 49% stake.

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

acquired Mannesmann's share in 2000, and Wegmann Unternehmens-Holding KG based in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

bought this stake in December 2010 to become the sole shareholder of KMW. The family holding is owned by about 26 silent partners. The partners are members of the families Bode, von Braunbehrens, von Maydell and Sethe and are all descendants of the firm's founders or the later owners of Wegmann & Co.. In 2015, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann merged with the French state-owned defence company

Nexter Systems Nexter Systems (formerly known as GIAT Industries or ''Groupement des Industries de l'Armée de Terre'', Army Industries Group) is a French government-owned weapons manufacturer, based in Roanne, Loire. Group organization The Nexter group is ...

to form

. KMW is now a subsidiary of a newly formed holding company, 50% of which are in turn controlled by the former owners of the German company.

Products

By defense division of

KraussMaffei KraussMaffei is a German manufacturer of injection molding machines, machines for plastics extrusion technology, and reaction process machinery. It was acquired by ChemChina in 2016. History Locomotives KraussMaffei was formed in 1931 from a me ...

: *

main battle tank *

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Germ ...

main battle tank *

Panzerhaubitze 2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 ("tank howitzer 2000"), () abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for the German Army. It is capable of a very high ...

(PzH 2000) self-propelled howitzer *

Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard The ''Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard'' ("anti-aircraft-gun tank 'Cheetah, better known as the Flakpanzer Gepard) is an all-weather-capable German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG). It was developed in the 1960s, fielded in the 1970s, a ...

self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery By Krauss-Maffei Wegmann: * armoured bridge layer (Leopard 2 chassis) * armoured bridge layer (Leopard 2 chassis) *

Artillery Gun Module The Artillery Gun Module (AGM, ''Artillerie-Geschütz-Modul'') is an air-portable self-propelled howitzer designed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. It is based on technology used in the German Army Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000) system, to provide more ...

(AGM), a derivative of PzH 2000 which has been further developed into the

Donar Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

self-propelled howitzer * Dingo 1 & 2 infantry mobility vehicle * FLW 100 and FLW 200 remote weapon stations *

Grizzly The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

highly protected vehicle * GTK Boxer armoured fighting vehicle *

MARS Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

tracked multiple rocket launcher *

GFF4 The GFF4 (Geschützte Führungs- und Funktionsfahrzeuge, Klasse 4: Protected Command and Functional Vehicles, Class 4), previously KMW Grizzly, is a medium weight MRAP armored personnel carrier, developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), designed ...

armoured 4x4 personnel carrier *

Mungo ESK The Mungo ESK (Einsatzfahrzeug Spezialisierte Kräfte) is an air-transportable, armoured multirole transport vehicle operated by the Airmobile Operations Division and the Rapid Forces Division of the German Army. The Mungo is based on the Multic ...

armoured transport vehicle * Puma infantry fighting vehicle *

Fennek The Fennek, named after the fennec (a species of small desert fox), or LGS Fennek, with LGS being short for ''Leichter Gepanzerter Spähwagen'' in German (Light Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle), is a four-wheeled armed reconnaissance vehicle pro ...

armoured

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

vehicle * F2 wheeled armoured vehicle * Terrier armored 4x4 personnel carrier

Gallery

Image:Leo2A6M li.jpg,

A6M File:Leo2 PSO Turm.JPG, FLW 200 remote weapon station Image:PzH2000.Ger.jpg, PzH 2000 of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

File:SPz Puma Mobilitätsversuchfahrzeug VS2.jpg, Puma image:Gepard 1a2 overview.jpg,

Image:GTK Boxer side.jpg, GTK Boxer Image:BundeswehrFennek.jpg,

Image:Dingo 2.jpg, ATF Dingo 2 Image:Krauss Maffai Mungo.jpg,

References

External links

Official website
* {{KMW+Nexter Defense Systems Defence companies of Germany Military vehicle manufacturers Locomotive manufacturers of Germany Manufacturing companies based in Munich Companies based in Munich