They were happy about the "modern and robust" vehicles with the troops on Friday in Munich.

The Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use of the Bundeswehr (BAAINBw) even speaks of a "success story of unprotected transport vehicles" in the message that it sent out after the first vehicles from the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicle (RMMV) joint venture had now been handed over.

Jonas Jansen

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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The contract for the 230 protected and 310 unprotected swap body systems (WLS), which are used to transport ammunition and fuel and at the same time protect three soldiers from fragments, infantry ammunition and landmines, was signed in June 2020. The term is seven years.

The delivery, which coincidentally fell on the publication day of the quarterly figures of the Düsseldorf-based armaments group Rheinmetall, makes it clear why the war in Ukraine and the announcement of the 100 billion euro special fund for the German armed forces in Ukraine had no effect in the first three months of the fiscal year the balance sheet of the M-Dax group shows.

Nevertheless, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger believes there are "good chances" of being able to win many orders in the current security situation.

In an analyst presentation, the Management Board expects possible orders in the second half of 2022.

Significantly higher sales expected

Without the Ukraine effect, the Düsseldorf-based company had expected incoming orders from Germany to the amount of 1.6 billion euros this year, and now they are assuming 6 to 8 billion.

In the coming year, this should increase to 7 to 9 billion euros.

This mainly involves ammunition, trucks, the Puma infantry fighting vehicle and the Boxer wheeled armored vehicle.

Instead of 1.5 billion euros in sales, Rheinmetall expects 2 billion this year and 2.3 billion in 2023. This does not include possible orders from Ukraine, which according to the investor presentation could amount to between 300 and 500 million euros.

While the greatest growth is likely to come from Germany, Rheinmetall is hoping for orders, especially for the Lynx tank, in view of the rearmament from other NATO countries.

For the year as a whole, Papperger still expects a sales increase of 15 to 20 percent in the group, last year Rheinmetall achieved around 5.7 billion euros.

The operating profit margin should be more than 11 percent.

The share price of the M-Dax company, which had recently reached new heights, was still more than 3.5 percent down on Friday during the day.

The civil business in particular had difficulties in the first three months of the year, the sensor business suffered from the supply chain problems in the semiconductor industry, and the corona lockdowns around Shanghai are currently having a negative impact.

The weapons and ammunition division, on the other hand, was able to increase sales by 17 percent, mainly due to a major order from Hungary (FAZ of March 31).

Overall, sales remained at the level of a good 1.3 billion euros compared to the same period last year.

The operating result rose by 8 million euros or 9.5 percent to 92 million euros.