Rheinmetall and KNDS Will Equip 10,000 Bundeswehr Vehicles With Digital Radio Equipment

The ArGe D-LBO (Working group for digitalizing land-based operations) of KNDS Deutschland and Rheinmetall has been commissioned by the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw: Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr) to digitize the command-and-control equipment of the land forces' vehicle systems. The total volume of the contract, which has a term of six years, is €1.98bn gross. Rheinmetall accounts for half of this amount.

The “digitalization of land-based operations” is one of the German Army's most important projects in the field of state-of-the-art communications. The focus of the IT-conversion is about replacing the radios with the new D-LBO command radio transmitters and exchanging the software. This new IT system consists of communication devices, computers, software and IT-services, and further more. Hence, it enables the interconnection of platforms, soldiers and sensors for the exchange of information in real-time, and thus increases their operational capabilities and interoperability.

The contract includes all work for the integration of new digital radio transmitters and command-and-control systems within various sample integrations and is awarded in its entirety to the contractor ArGe D-LBO, which will ensure the implementation of the overall contract.

The integration of the series will commence in mid-2025 and will comprise around 10,000 Bundeswehr combat and support vehicles. The conversion is expected to be completed by the end of 2030.

At the same time, a second contract was concluded with ArGe ISI (IT-system integration), which includes the amalgamation of the IT-systems of all vehicle- and platform-systems of the land forces as part of the D-LBO project. The contract awarded to ArGe ISI, which is formed by Rheinmetall and the company blackned GmbH, has a gross order volume of around €1.2bn.