Germany plans to buy an initial 40% stake in defence company KNDS, the maker of Leopard 2 tanks and Panzerhaubitze 2000 systems, as Berlin seeks greater involvement in the defence industry and aims to retain key expertise.
Germany and India have agreed to expand cooperation in the defence sector during talks in Ahmedabad. A declaration of intent was signed during Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit, with plans including submarine construction in India and wider cooperation covering defence, technology, jobs, and critical resources.
TKMS has handed over the second HDW Class NTSP submarine, TCG Hızırreis, to the Turkish Navy during a ceremony in Gölcük, marking the latest milestone in the six-boat programme. The class of submarines is also known as the Reis-class of submarines.
Thyssenkrupp is to retain a majority stake of 51% in TKMS through a new holding company. The remaining 49% of TKMS shares are to be transferred to Thyssenkrupp shareholders in proportion to their shareholdings, making them direct shareholders of TKMS.
The Ukraine war and expanding global conflict showered a windfall on German arms companies like Rheinmetall and TKMS, with some startups like Helsing becoming the upstarts of the weapons industry, and other legacy companies like Heckler & Koch even experiencing a dramatic reversal of fortunes.
At the end of the 2023/2024 financial year, the order backlog stood at €11.7 billion, but the figure has now risen to €18 billion after significant orders from Germany and Singapore.
Germany stopped selling weapons to Saudi Arabia over the war on Yemen’s Houthi militia. It has now started selling weapons to Saudi Arabia again, to intercept missile attacks from the same Houthis aimed at Israel.
Two of the contenders; Mitsubishi/Kawasaki of Japan and Navantia of Spain have failed to submit the requested information for their Soryu and S-80 submarines to the Indian Navy.
The Indian Navy has extended the deadline for submission of responses to the Project-75(I) submarine RFI to October 16th.
This scandal has a line-up of significant curiosities including a series of conflicts of interest and shareholding that will make you go “Hmmm”.
Japan has set up an agency to manage international defense trade, especially the Indian Navy order for ShinMaywa US-2i amphibious aircraft, after the loss of the Australian submarine order.
