Rheinmetall has secured a contract with Greece to supply the Hellenic armed forces with tank ammunition valued at approximately $69.6 million.

The order includes 12,000 rounds of 120mm ammunition, the initial supply for the Greek army’s Leopard 2 tanks, bought in 2009. Ammunition procurement was delayed for several years.

Rheinmetall's 120mm ammo. Photo: Rheinmetall.
Rheinmetall’s 120mm ammo. Photo: Rheinmetall.

The recently signed contract represents a breakthrough in finishing the job of reequipping Greek’s tank fleet, the company said Aug. 15.

The procurement’s actual customer is Germany’s Federal Office of Bundeswher Equipment Information Technology and In-service Support (BAAINBw), acting on behalf of the Greek Ministry of Defense, as part of mutual cooperation and assistance efforts. This makes the procurement process simpler and faster, the company said, allowing the Greek authorities to dispense with accumulating expertise in the field of ammunition procurement, particularly regarding technical inspections.

The defense ministries of Germany and Greece laid the contract groundwork earlier this year.

The contract calls for the supply of 120mm DM 12A2 multipurpose ammunition as well as DM63 and DM63A1 kinetic energy (KE) rounds. The work also includes the production and installation by Rheinmetall of ballistic tables for the KE ammunition for the Greek Leopard 2A4.

The DM12A2 and DM63 ammunition will be supplied to the Greek army by the end of the year. The rest of the ammunition–DM63A–will be delivered in 2015 and 2016 in three lots, after the planned new qualification of the round early next year.

Components produced locally by Rheinmetall’s Greek partner,

Hellenic Defense Systems (HDS), are already being built into the DM63A1.

The Greek army has 353 Leopard 2 main battle tanks. Specifically, 170 Leopard 2A6 HEL tanks are armed with Rheinmetall’s long barrel L55 gun. The remaining 183 Leopard 2A4 tanks carry the Rheinmetall L44 short barrel gun.