German defense concern Rheinmetall AG plans to launch production of its armored vehicles in Ukraine in 2024.
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger announced this in his interview with WirtschaftsWoche.
The company wants to produce Fuchs wheeled armored personnel carriers and Lynx armored fighting vehicles.
The Rheinmetall CEO said that he expects an agreement with Ukraine to be signed early next year.
After signing the contract, the first Fuchs is expected to roll off the assembly line within 6-7 months, and the first Lynx within 12-13 months. Papperger explained that the production of Fuchs armored personnel carriers in Ukraine will be possible by the end of summer 2024, and the production of Lynx armored fighting vehicles may begin in the summer of 2025.
“The first ten Lynx armored fighting vehicles are already being manufactured here in Germany or Hungary in cooperation with Ukraine. After the ramp-up phase, we should be able to produce a significant number of these armored fighting vehicles entirely in Ukraine,” he said.
According to him, the German government has already signaled that the export of these armored vehicles to Ukraine will be allowed.
Rheinmetall’s CEO explains the unusually short turnaround time by saying that the cooperation has progressed well. The German company is already Ukraine’s largest partner in the defense industry. In 2022, the group received orders worth about €900 million, and in 2023, the volume of orders increased to about two and a half billion euros.
“And there will definitely be more of them next year,” Papperger predicts. In addition, Ukraine has already established the maintenance of German armored vehicles, for which Ukrainian specialists have been trained in Germany.
Rheinmetall and Ukroboronprom formed a joint venture to repair and maintain combat equipment donated by Germany and other Western partners.
Lynx armored fighting vehicle
KF41 Lynx is a heavy IFV, weighing about 44 tons, introduced by Rheinmetall in 2018. Its main armament is a LANCE turret with a 30- or 35-mm gun and an anti-tank missile launcher, which can be equipped according to customer requirements.
The KF41 is 7.7 m long, 3.6 m wide, and 3.3 m high. The maximum speed is 70 km/h and the fuel range is over 500 km. The crew of the combat vehicle is three people. For landing, up to nine fighters can be accommodated. The IFV is protected from 30 mm shells in the frontal projection and from 14.5 mm in the lateral ones. The bottom of the vehicle guarantees explosion protection equivalent to 10 kg of TNT. The IFV is powered by a 1470-strong Liebherr D9612 engine, which allows it to reach a speed of 70 km/h. The range along the highway is 500 km.