Rheinmetal, Tatra to Set up Military Truck Manufacturing JV

A joint venture is to be established between Czech truck producer Tatra, owned by Czechoslovak Group (CSG) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme, to manufacture Tatra brand of rugged military trucks.

Rheinmetall and Czechoslovak Group (CSG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of tactical military vehicles, a Rheinmetall press release said.

The signing took place at Hradčany Castle in the presence of the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman today.

Under this new strategic partnership, both companies want to enable the transfer of defence technology between Germany and the Czech Republic in order to implement projects in the Visegrad states as well as other countries.

CSG stated that the JV which will not be a simple assembly plant, but also a developer and manufacturer of modern defence technologies. As a result, the Czech defence industry will expand its capabilities in the field of tracked ground vehicle systems.

 “The cooperation with Czechoslovak Group is a key relationship for Rheinmetall,” said Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall. “This opportunity will allow us to incorporate Czechoslovak Group into our existing global supply chain for our broad spectrum of defence products.”

Rheinmetall and CSG are ready to invest in the joint venture in order to create production capacities as well as to develop new technologies.

The first task of the joint venture will be to transfer the production of land technology groups and subgroups in projects which Rheinmetall is currently working on. The project can work and be mutually beneficial even without domestic orders. On the other hand, domestic orders are an important impetus for the development of the project as well as for export projects within the V4 countries and other markets.