By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
Germany’s taking another step in its defense buildup, agreeing to buy 6,500 tactical military trucks from Rheinmetall. The deal is valued at up to $3.8 billion, with the first 250 trucks expected to be delivered this year.
The Bundeswehr negotiated a framework-contract, allowing it flexibility in buying the UTF 5t and UTF 15t all-terrain trucks for seven years. Rheinmetall will also introduce a new truck, the 4×4 UTF 3.5t. They are all part of the company’s HX family of tactical military trucks, which went into production in 2005.
It’s Rheinmetall’s biggest military truck deal ever.
“The extremely short period of four months from the invitation to tender to the signature of the contract underlines once more that the turning point for procuring logistics trucks has been introduced,” said Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger.
In addition to the German army, HX trucks are also used by the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Singapore, Slovenia, Denmark and Ukraine. About 20,000 of the vehicles are in use.
Ret. Gen. John Murray – Former Commanding General, Army Futures Command
Germany is now in the third year of its military buildup. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to double the country’s defense budget. He said he would increase spending to the NATO target of two percent of gross domestic product and also set up a $109 billion special fund to modernize the army.
Still, progress isn’t quick.
In March, the German Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces Eva Hoegl told reporters, “I must unfortunately observe that the Bundeswehr still has too little of everything. There is a lack of ammunition, of spare parts, of radio devices. There is a lack of tanks, of ships and of aircraft.”
Other German officials have referred to “decades of neglect.” A defense policy statement urged the government to cut red tape in order to award defense contracts quicker and to change the laws if necessary.
Rheinmetall is getting a large chunk of the euros being spent on defense.
It’s upgrading a tank as an interim solution while Germany and France develop the tank of the future, known as the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS). The company also is upgrading its Gladius 2.0 soldier system, which links troops, weapons, vehicles and sensors on the digital battlefield.
And last month, Rheinmetall signed its biggest single contract ever – a deal with the Bundeswehr worth up to $9.1 billion to make 155mm artillery shells, some of which will be going to Ukraine. The agreement also will ensure the capacity utilization of the company’s new factory that’s being built in Lower Saxony.
That announcement came just days Rheinmetall showed off the fruits of its joint collaboration with Lockheed Grumman – the Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System GMARS. Rheinmetall took one of its HX 8 x 8 trucks and made it the base for Lockheed’s two-pod multiple rocket launchers.
GMARS has been described as HIMARS, the Lockheed-built High Mobility Artillery System, with more firepower. The US has supplied Ukraine with more than three dozen HIMARS, and the weapon has proven effective on the battlefield.
