KNDS, the merger of the German and French land defense systems providers Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Nexter, is harmonizing its brand image. In future, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Nexter and their subsidiaries will appear exclusively under the single brand KNDS.

Five years after the merger of KMW and Nexter under the joint holding KNDS, the Group’s governance has been restructured. The shareholders decided to streamline the governance structure by establishing a single Board of Directors consisting of the CEO, Mr. Frank Haun, and nine other members. An executive committee, balanced between France and Germany, supports the board of directors and the CEO in the management of KNDS going forward.

KMW and Nexter welcomed the announcement by the French and German governments on the joint development of a new Main Ground Combat System. The Letter Of Intent was a significant step forward in the defense cooperation between the two countries and in Europe.

When Eurosatory opened its doors in June 2018, an exceptional battle tank sat on display at the KMW and Nexter joint stand. This hybrid, by the name of EMBT, created from the hull of the LEOPARD 2 and the turret of the Leclerc, quickly drew interest from numerous trade fair visitors. As the first joint step towards the European Main Battle Tank (EMBT), this new tank demonstrates, above all, successful cooperation between the KMW and Nexter teams. From a common idea, in just 15 months they developed a functional demonstrator which impressively displayed its mobility and accuracy at a test site.

Composed of proven and tested technologies, the EMBT is a short-term response to the operational need of the market for high-intensity battle tanks. The demonstrator illustrates the progress of the integration of KNDS, whose combined skills make it the legitimate and essential industrial actor of the Franco-German next generation tank program MGCS.

Only a few months after the founding of KNDS, KMW and Nexter successfully presented themselves together at the world's most important defense technology trade fair of the year: Eurosatory 2016. For the first time, KMW and Nexter employees worked together on a challenging project that also received enormous public attention. This laid the foundation for a convincing collaboration.

After all required approvals have been obtained, KMW and Nexter have completed their association on 15 December 2015. From now on, two of the leading European manufacturers of military land systems based in France and Germany will operate jointly under the umbrella of a holding company under Dutch law with headquarters in Amsterdam. This was not only the beginning of cooperation, but also of growing together.