Defence & Space

Rheinmetall wins major order for artillery ammunition

Rheinmetall Denel Munition wins major 155mm ammunition contract. Order worth several hundred million euros, deliveries from 2025 until 2027. It…

2025-07-04 | Redakcja | 3 minutes

A contractor has been selected for the repair of Mk 75 guns on Polish OHP frigates

The Gdynia Naval Port Command has published information on the outcome of the tender procedure for the repair of two…

2025-07-02 | Rafał Muczyński | 3 minutes

SIPRI: Nuclear risks grow as new arms race looms

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published a report entitled SIPRI Yearbook 2025, which, among other things, discusses the issue of…

2025-06-16 | Redakcja | 10 minutes

Polish 35 mm SA-35 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun with PIT-Radwar

During the recent MSPO trade fair in Kielce, the company PIT-Radwar presented its proposal for a 35 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun…

2025-06-13 | Przemysław Gurgurewicz | 13 minutes

Rheinmetall wins major order for artillery ammunition

Rheinmetall Denel Munition wins major 155mm ammunition contract. Order worth several hundred million euros, deliveries from 2025 until 2027. It…

2025-07-04 | Redakcja | 3 minutes

A contractor has been selected for the repair of Mk 75 guns on Polish OHP frigates

The Gdynia Naval Port Command has published information on the outcome of the tender procedure for the repair of two…

2025-07-02 | Rafał Muczyński | 3 minutes

SKW Cryptographic Security Certificate for Polish Comp@n Radio Set from the WB Group

The WB Group announced that the Comp@n system radio set, developed by its subsidiary Radmor, along with the Cryptographic Document Management…

2025-06-14 | Redakcja | 4 minutes

Advancing multi-domain EW operations: Rohde & Schwarz unveils latest innovations at AOC Europe

Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates the next generation of SIGINT/EW systems, sensor fusion and signal analysis solutions, designed to meet the evolving…

2025-05-12 | Redakcja | 2 minutes

Autonomous and Unmanned Systems by Łukasiewicz – PIAP at the OPEX 2025 Training Ground in Italy

During the HEDI OPEX 2025 experimental campaign at the CEPOLISPE training ground in Italy, the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Industrial…

2025-06-28 | Redakcja | 4 minutes

Paris Air Show 2025: Debut of Foudre – the French HIMARS

As previously announced by Turgis & Gaillard, the 55th International Paris Air and Space Show served as the venue for the…

2025-06-23 | Radosław Niesobski | 2 minutes

Rheinmetall wins major order for artillery ammunition

Rheinmetall Denel Munition wins major 155mm ammunition contract. Order worth several hundred million euros, deliveries from 2025 until 2027. It…

2025-07-04 | Redakcja | 3 minutes

Polish Ministry of National Defence: New Contract for K2 Tanks and Support Vehicles Imminent

In Warsaw, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, along with Secretary of State at the Ministry…

2025-07-02 | Redakcja | 10 minutes

Bayraktar TB2 and FlyEye Drones to Support Polish Police Manhunt for Killer Near Limanowa

The Bayraktar TB2 drone and FlyEye systems will support the Polish police in the search for 57-year-old Tadeusz Duda, suspected…

2025-06-30 | Rafał Muczyński | 5 minutes

Galvion’s European Production Hub in Poland is formally opened by the Ambassador of Canada tothe Republic of Poland

Canadian company Galvion announced that the Canadian Ambassador to Poland, Catherine Godin, officially opened the European Production Hub in Gdańsk.

2025-06-26 | Redakcja | 4 minutes

Rheinmetall wins major order for artillery ammunition

Rheinmetall Denel Munition wins major 155mm ammunition contract. Order worth several hundred million euros, deliveries from 2025 until 2027. It…

2025-07-04 | Redakcja | 3 minutes

A contractor has been selected for the repair of Mk 75 guns on Polish OHP frigates

The Gdynia Naval Port Command has published information on the outcome of the tender procedure for the repair of two…

2025-07-02 | Rafał Muczyński | 3 minutes

East Shield and the Baltic Defense Line: Cooperation and Investment in Defense Are the Cornerstone of Europe’s Security

East Shield, the Baltic Defense Line, the integration of available deterrence and defense capabilities, and EU defense funding were the…

2025-07-02 | Redakcja | 2 minutes

Russia Loses World’s Largest Helicopter, Mi-26, in Ukrainian Attack on Crimea

The Security Service of Ukraine reported that during a special operation at the Kirovske military airfield in occupied Crimea, a Pantsir-S1 air…

2025-06-29 | Rafał Muczyński | 4 minutes

Finland Ministry of Defense selects ICEYE for space-based intelligence and surveillance capabilities

The Polish-Finnish company ICEYE and the Finnish Ministry of Defense have signed a Letter of Intent that enables the Finnish Defense…

2025-06-27 | Redakcja | 3 minutes

Axiom Mission 4: The Historic Spaceflight of Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski

June 25, 2025, will go down in history as the day when the second Pole in our history flew into…

2025-06-25 | Rafał Muczyński | 5 minutes
Shooting

CZ Shooting Team athletes take home 13 medals from the CZ Extreme Euro Open

Sport shooters representing Ceska zbrojovka brought back six gold, four silver, and three bronze medals from Hodonice, along with four…

2025-07-04 | Redakcja | 4 minutes

Upgraded Z8i Scope from SWAROVSKI OPTIK

Swarovski Optik, the Austrian optics manufacturer with nearly 80 years of tradition, has unveiled an upgraded version of its Z8i…

2025-07-03 | Mariusz Piwowar | 3 minutes

Upgraded Z8i Scope from SWAROVSKI OPTIK

Swarovski Optik, the Austrian optics manufacturer with nearly 80 years of tradition, has unveiled an upgraded version of its Z8i…

2025-07-03 | Mariusz Piwowar | 3 minutes

Streamlight introduces the SL-SideSaddle

Streamlight, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance lighting tools, announces the SL-SideSaddle series, a new hands-free lighting solution built for outdoor adventure…

2025-07-01 | Redakcja | 3 minutes

IFRE 2025: Maskpol Showcases Protective Suits and Gas Masks

Maskpol, a company within the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), presented part of its product range—protective suits and gas masks—at the 5th…

2025-06-17 | Michał Ihnatów | 2 minutes

UF PRO Introduces Waist/Flex Belts to Its Product Line

UF PRO, a Slovenian manufacturer of professional apparel and part of the Mehler Systems group, is adding a new accessory to its lineup…

2025-06-06 | Michał Ihnatów | 2 minutes

CZ Shooting Team athletes take home 13 medals from the CZ Extreme Euro Open

Sport shooters representing Ceska zbrojovka brought back six gold, four silver, and three bronze medals from Hodonice, along with four…

2025-07-04 | Redakcja | 4 minutes

Enforce Tac 2025 starts on February 24th

Enforce Tac is an international trade fair aimed at law enforcement officers, experts from government agencies, and representatives of the…

2025-01-30 | Michał Ihnatów | 4 minutes

CZ Introduces the New CZ P-10 C PORTED Model

CZ P-10 C PORTED – a compact pistol with tamed recoil thanks to an integrated compensator.

2025-07-02 | Redakcja | 3 minutes

Meprolight MMX3 and MMX4 – Lightweight Magnifiers with Quality Optics

The Mepro MMX3 and MMX4, a new line of compact magnifiers from the Israeli manufacturer. How do they perform in practice and…

2025-06-27 | Krzysztof Ptak | 8 minutes

Paris Air Show 2025: Bayraktar TB3 Debuts

The 55th edition of the International Paris Air and Space Show, held in the French capital, provided an opportunity for…

2025-06-19 | Radosław Niesobski | 3 minutes

Setting Up a Shooting Belt: An Example with Clawgear

To assist with shooting training and beyond, various belts and gear configurations have been developed and customized to suit individual needs. It’s…

2024-11-28 | Łukasz Kołodziejski | 14 minutes

Over 100% increase in gun permits in Poland in 2024

The Polish Police have released statistical data on firearm permits issued in 2024. An increasing number of Poles now hold…

2025-02-20 | Michał Ihnatów | 5 minutes

Firearms In Poland 2023: Number of permits continues to grow

The National Police Headquarters has released statistics regarding the number of firearm permits and firearms themselves in the hands of…

2024-02-17 | Michał Ihnatów | 5 minutes

5 Best Value ATN Rifle Scopes Under €1500

ATN is a leading manufacturer of daytime optics, smart night vision, and thermal vision technology. The innovative features and ergonomic designs…

2022-11-11 | Redakcja | 8 minutes

MILMAG Visits Grand Power

Grand Power is a Slovak manufacturer of the acknowledged good quality firearms. Take part in our guided tour with English subtitles.

2022-05-23 | Redakcja | 1 minutes

Meprolight MMX3 and MMX4 – Lightweight Magnifiers with Quality Optics

The Mepro MMX3 and MMX4, a new line of compact magnifiers from the Israeli manufacturer. How do they perform in practice and…

2025-06-27 | Krzysztof Ptak | 8 minutes

Streamlight TLR-7 HL-X – a Bayonet of Light for Your Weapon

The devil’s not so scary once you shine a light on him—and he’s certainly easier to neutralize in the spotlight. A weapon-mounted flashlight…

2025-06-09 | Anna Mielczarek | 6 minutes

EOTECH Holographic Sight – History, Technology, Practice

The holographic sight is a device known for nearly 30 years and used by professionals around the world. A favorite sight of many…

2024-09-02 | Michał Gaweł | 12 minutes

First half of 2023: Rheinmetall continues on growth path with significant upturn in orders

Rheinmetall’s results in first half of 2023: strong growth of security business: sales up by 12%, significant growth in order backlog: Threshold of €30 billion exceeded, consolidated sales up 7% to €2.9 billion, operating result at €191 million and operating margin amounts to 6.7%.

10th August 2023. Rheinmetall AG, Düsseldorf, closed the first half of financial year 2023 with further growth in consolidated sales. This positive development was driven in particular by business with the armed forces of Germany and its partner nations in the EU and NATO. Thanks to the dynamic market situation and the high level of demand, the Group recorded double-digit sales growth in its business with military goods. By contrast, the Group’s civilian business saw a slowdown in growth. Rheinmetall now generates more than 70% of its revenues in the military business.

Photo: Rheinmetall AG

Building on the positive development in the first quarter, the technology group’s operating free cash flow improved significantly in the first half of the current financial year compared to the same period of the previous year.

In light of the current market situation and the consistently positive order situation, management is confirming its current guidance for the Group’s sales growth and operating result margin.

Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG, commented on the Group’s performance: “We are still on track to achieve our ambitious targets for sustainable, profitable growth in 2023. Governments have made far-reaching decisions for military procurement in response to the change in the security situation. Implementing these decisions is the next step, and this is reflected in the first major orders we have received. We recently signed contracts with an order volume of over €7 billion in a single week – a new record for us.”

Armin Papperger: We are continuing to grow. The acquisition of the Spanish munitions manufacturer Expal Systems that was closed recently will secure our core business for the long term and significantly expand capacities. At the same time, we will soon begin manufacturing fuselage sections for the world’s most modern combat aircraft, the F-35A, which will open up a new chapter in Rheinmetall’s history.

In a changing world, we remain committed to meeting our responsibility, not least with a view to the war in Ukraine. We are grateful to be able to provide the country with effective aid for its defence in the form of our products – from air defence, main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles and the associated ammunition, through to military trucks, sensors and mobile field hospitals, added Armin Papperger. As promised, we will soon be delivering the urgently needed ammunition to Ukraine for the Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.

Rheinmetall Group: Sales growth of 7%

Consolidated sales increased by €187 million or 7% year-on-year to €2,861 million in the first half of 2023 (previous year: €2,674 million). Adjusted for currency effects, sales were almost 8% higher than in the previous year.

The operating result amounted to €191 million, down €15 million or 7% on the previous year’s figure of €206 million. Business was boosted in particular by earnings growth in the Electronic Solutions, Vehicle Systems and Weapon and Ammunition divisions on the back of higher margins and a better product mix. However, the positive development in the Group’s operating business was not enough to fully offset the negative earnings contributions from affiliated companies in Europe and China. Excluding at-equity contributions of €-17 million, the operating result amounted to €208 million. The result was impacted by costs of about €10 million to restore operations resulting from the cyberattack on IT systems in the civil business in April 2023 and by higher raw material prices.

Due to the aforementioned negative at-equity effects, the Group’s operating result margin fell to 6.7% in the first half of 2023 (previous year: 7.7%).

Earnings per share from continuing operations increased from €2.28 to €2.42 in the first half of financial year 2023.

Operating free cash flow improved significantly by €316 million to €325 million in the first half of 2023 after €641 million in the same period of the previous year. Despite the growth in inventories in anticipation of additional orders, operating free cash flow improved considerably in the first half of the year thanks to higher customer payments. The high demand in the military sector currently requires further investments in order to significantly increase the own production capacities.

Rheinmetall Backlog increased considerably by around 17%, from €25.7 billion to around €30.1 billion (June 30, 2023). In addition to orders on hand, Rheinmetall Backlog includes the call-offs expected from framework agreements in place with military customers and potential orders from contracts with civilian clients.

Rheinmetall Nomination rose by around 50% year-on-year to €7,192 million in the first half of 2023 (previous year: €4,790 million). Rheinmetall Nomination comprises traditional incoming orders as well as the volume from future call-offs under new framework agreements entered into with military customers and new contracts with civilian clients (nominations).

Vehicle Systems: Fivefold increase in order intake

Sales in the Vehicle Systems division, which mainly operates in military wheeled and tracked vehicles, increased by €161 million or 19% year-on-year at €1,012 million in the first half of 2023. The sales growth is particularly attributable to projects for the delivery of tactical vehicles.

Rheinmetall Nomination – the total of order intake and the volume of new framework agreements with military customers – increased by €3,045 million as against the previous year to €3,725 million. This was due in particular to a fivefold increase in order intake resulting from the acquisition of new major orders, especially in connection with the program to replace the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in the US, orders for new Puma infantry fighting vehicles and state-of-the-art military trucks for the German armed forces, and the Leopard 2 upgrade for Norway. A framework agreement for trucks in Austria was another strategically important success.

Rheinmetall Backlog in the division – comprising orders on hand and the expected call-offs under the framework agreements in place with military customers – amounted to around €13.9 billion as at June 30, 2023, up €1,244 million or around 10% on the previous year’s figure. The operating result improved from €75 million to €99 million in the first half of 2023. This represents growth of

€24.1 million or 24%. This positive development is mainly attributable to margin effects in projects. The operating margin of around 10% exceeded the previous year’s level of around 9%.

Weapon and Ammunition: Backlog rises to over €6 billion

The Weapon and Ammunition division generated sales of €598 million from its weapon systems and ammunition activities in the first half of 2023, an increase of €34 million or 6% on the previous year’s figure. The year-on-year increase is due in particular to higher ammunition call-offs by customers and higher sales of protected truck cabs. At €1,561 million, Rheinmetall Nomination largely maintained the strong prior-year level in the first half of 2023 (previous year: €1,892 million). The previous year’s figure was above average due to the division’s largest single order to date from Hungary. Major new orders in the first half of 2023 related to ammunition orders for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank and tank ammunition orders for Marder and Leopard 1 for Ukraine. In addition, a large order for ship protection systems was acquired in Australia with a potential total order volume – including followup orders – of over €600 million. Rheinmetall Backlog increased by €1,366 million or around 29% to around €6.1 billion as at June 30, 2023 (previous year: €4.7 billion).

The operating result improved by €19 million or 27% to €89 million in the first half of 2023. This positive development is mainly attributable to a more profitable product mix. As a result, the operating margin rose significantly from 12.5% to 14.9%.

Electronic Solutions: Sales growth of 10%

The Electronic Solutions division, which produces solutions in the field of armed forces digitalization, infantry equipment, air defence and simulation, increased its sales by €39 million to €450 million in the first half of 2023 (previous year: €411 million); this corresponds to growth of 10%.

Rheinmetall Nomination declined by €49 million or 7% year-on-year to €652 million. A major new order in the context of Puma infantry fighting vehicles was placed in the first six months of 2023. Rheinmetall Backlog amounted to €3.4 billion as at June 30, 2023, a year-on-year increase of 16% (previous year: €2.9 billion).

The operating result for the first half of 2023 increased by €2 million to €27 million (previous year: €25 million). The operating margin declined to 5.9% (previous year: 6.1%), largely as a result of changes in the product mix.

Sensors and Actuators: Nominated backlog up around 22%

Sales in the Sensors and Actuators division, which provides solutions for industrial applications and electric mobility as well as components and control systems for emission reductions, increased by €16 million or 2% year-on-year to €707 million in the first half of 2023. This development primarily resulted from volume increases in Europe and Asia. Booked business in the first half of 2023 was unchanged year-on-year at €1,428 million (previous year: €1,431 million). The nominated backlog, i.e. the volume of call-offs expected from customer agreements, increased by around 22% to €8.2 billion as at June 30, 2023 (previous year: €6.7 billion).

The operating result declined by 57% to €22 million in the first half of 2023 (previous year: €50 million). Among other things, this development is attributable to additional business recovery costs following the cyber-attack on IT systems of the civilian business in April 2023 as well as increased raw material prices, which can only be passed on to customers after a delay. Accordingly, the operating margin fell to 3.1% (previous year: 7.3%).

Materials and Trade: Downturn in sales due to cyberattacks

Sales in the Materials and Trade division, which supplies plain bearings and structural components as well as handling global aftermarket business, declined by €22 million or almost 6% year-on-year to €352 million in the first half of 2023. The downturn was due in particular to the lower sales volume in the Bearings business unit. In the Trade business unit, the downturn in sales is attributable to the cyber-attacks on IT systems at locations in Germany and abroad in April 2023. Booked business amounted to €347 million in the first six months of financial year 2023. This represents a year-onyear decrease of almost 14% (previous year: €403 million). The nominated backlog of around €600 million as at June 30, 2023 was largely unchanged year-on-year (previous year: €610 million). The operating result of the Materials and Trade division fell by €10 million or almost 38% to €17 million in the first half of 2023. The operating margin declined to 4.7% (previous year: 7.2%). This was due in particular to a decline in the at-equity result of a Chinese joint venture as well as the earnings effect of the downturn in sales.

Outlook: Current guidance for year confirmed

Rheinmetall confirms its current annual guidance after the first six months of 2023.

In recent months, Rheinmetall has used strict cost control, active provisioning, and the mitigation of risks on the energy and procurement markets as measures to successfully counter the general trend of inflation and the continuing disruptions on the markets for raw materials and primary products.

Not least in light of these timely decisions and the measures it has largely already implemented, the Group continues to expect sales growth to between €7.4 billion and €7.6 billion in the current financial year and is anticipating an improvement in the operating result and an operating result margin of around 12%.

This guidance does not include the acquisition of the Spanish munitions manufacturer Expal Systems. Rheinmetall expects the new subsidiary to contribute sales of €150 million to €190 million in the current financial year from the date of consolidation (August 1, 2023).

https://twitter.com/RheinmetallAG/status/1689513414761000960?s=20

Press release

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