German and French tank manufacturer KNDS to establish company in Ukraine
Germany and France have agreed at the defense minister level to allow tank manufacturer KNDS to establish a local subsidiary in Ukraine, Reuters reported on March 22.
The company will produce spare parts for military equipment and train personnel to maintain it.
KNDS, a German-French joint venture, manufactures well-known weapons such as Leopard tanks, Caesar self-propelled howitzers, Gepard anti-aircraft systems, which European countries have provided to Ukraine, as well as Leclerc tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery systems, and other components for equipment now in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"We, France and Germany, both want to help Ukraine to make the ammunition production there more self-sufficient," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
His French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu, added: "The production of ammunition must move close to the front line, that will be very important for supplies."
The Ukrainian subsidiary of KNDS may eventually manufacture weapon systems from scratch, according to an unnamed French official.
German weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall announced last month that it would open a new plant in Ukraine to produce artillery ammunition.
In March, it became known that Germany's largest defense contractor, Rheinmetall, wanted to build four factories in Ukraine to produce ammunition, military equipment, gunpowder, and air defense systems.
Lecornu and Pistorius also stated that they had reached an agreement in the joint development of the new MGCS tank, which is to replace the German Leopard 2 and French Leclerc tanks.
Pistorius said that the countries will sign a memorandum of understanding for the MGCS in Paris on April 26 and that the contract will be ready by the end of the year.
The MGCS tank is the second major military-industrial project between the two countries, which are already working together on the creation of the next-generation fighter jet, known as FCAS.
