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

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The company produces military weapons and vehicles, including

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 battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

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 defence division of KraussMaffei Group was spun off and merged with Wegmann & Co. In 2015, KMW became part of KMW+Nexter Defense Systems (KNDS), and in 2024 it was renamed KNDS Deutschland.

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

locomotives A locomotive is a rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for longer and heavier freight train ...

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 motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

. In the 1960s, Kraus-Maffei entered production of

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...

s, starting with

Leopard 1 The Kampfpanzer Leopard, subsequently Leopard 1 following the introduction of the successive Leopard 2, is a main battle tank designed by Porsche and manufactured by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Krauss-Maffei in West Germany, first entering service ...

tanks for the Bundeswehr. In 1999 defence production was spun off and merged with Wegmann & Co 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" (lit. "German-Austrian Mannesmann pipe-works joint-s ...

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

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

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

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, bought the Siemens stake in December 2010 to become the sole shareholder of KMW. This

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

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. . In 2012, KMW acquired WFEL, a British company that descended from the

Fairey Aviation Company The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire that designed important military aircraft, including the ...

. 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. In 2014, the firm had 3,200 employees and €1 billion in sales, and the cost of a

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a third generation German main battle tank (MBT). Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s, the tank entered service in 1979 and replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German army. Various iterat ...

tank was roughly €10 million. 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. In December 2015, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann joined with the French state-owned defence company

Nexter Systems KNDS France (formerly known as Nexter, GIAT Industries or ''Groupement des Industries de l'Armée de Terre'', Army Industries Group) is a French Government-owned corporation, government-owned arms industry, weapons manufacturer, based in Versaill ...

to form KMW+Nexter Defense Systems, a new

half owned by KMW's old private owners and half owned by the French state. 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, plus an order book of €9 billion. French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was content at the prospect of consolidating the terrestrial armoury of Europe.

Tank test track

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. 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. 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. In mid -January 2022, IG Metall campaigned for the preservation of the route, since 1650 jobs were in danger without it.

Products

main battle tank *

Panzerhaubitze 2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for t ...

(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 West German Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) based on the hu ...

self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery * 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 155 mm self-propelled howitzer designed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. It is based on technology used in the German Army Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000) system, to pr ...

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

highly protected vehicle * GTK Boxer armoured fighting vehicle *

MARS Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

tracked multiple rocket launcher * GFF4 armoured 4x4 personnel carrier * Mungo ESK 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 in German (Light Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle), is a four-wheeled armed reconnaissance vehicle produced by the German company KND ...

armoured

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

vehicle * F2 wheeled armoured vehicle * Terrier armoured 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 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm Self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 198 ...

of the

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

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, Mungo ESK

References

External links

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