€109 Million Over Five Years with €37 Million Option
Rheinmetall announced on 8 April that the company has received a major order from the Bundeswehr for 155mm artillery ammunition.
Worth some €109 million (including value added tax), the framework contract encompasses the supply of over 32,000 rounds, with an option for a further 11,000 worth around €37 million. Delivery against the five-year contract is slated to begin in 2019, with the rounds being manufactured at Unterlüß by Rheinmetall Waffe Munition.
The Bundeswher has ordered Rheinmetall’s 155mm DM121 rounds, which can attain ranges of up to 30km when fired from the PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer. Featuring insensitive explosives, this high explosive round can also be used in training operations and field exercises. Annual consumption will therefore be in the region of several thousand rounds. The current order follows a first batch of 30,000 procured by the Bundeswehr in 2009.
The DM121 is also highly accurate: at maximum range, approx. 85% of all shells land within an area the size of a football pitch. It is capable of penetrating several centimetres of reinforced concrete wall before detonating in a controlled fashion on the opposite side. Designed to operate safely and reliably at temperatures ranging from -46°C to +63°C, the DM121 attains the same degree of effectiveness in all climate zones worldwide. The insensitive explosives produce a devastating effect on and in the target, and also protect friendly forces should the ammunition be hit by hostile fire or exposed to other forms of mechanical stress.
