Rheinmetall to supply NATO customer with modern artillery ammunition

The order worth around €25 million is for several thousand conventional and extended-range artillery shells as well as tactical modular charges

Rheinmetall to supply NATO customer with modern artillery ammunition

Assegai artillery shells. Photo: Rheinmetall

Germany's Rheinmetall announced Monday that a NATO customer has awarded the company an order for modern artillery ammunition valued at approximately €25 million. The group’s South African subsidiary, Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM), will supply several thousand conventional and extended-range Assegai artillery shells (Base Bleed and V-LAP) as well as M92 Assegai tactical modular charges. The delivery that commenced in December is expected to be completed by May. 

According to the company, the tactical modular charges of RDM's Assegai Series are intended to propel artillery shells from 155mm gun systems. The charge system is fine-tuned to the customer’s specific weapon systems and artillery shells for maximum effectiveness. Their modular design simplifies logistics and makes handling in self-propelled artillery systems easier. They also reduce barrel wear and produce lower muzzle flash, with RDM’s Barrel Wear Reducer resulting in longer barrel life, and RDM’s Muzzle Flash Reducer making the artillery system harder for the enemy to detect, Rheinmetall said.  

Rheinmetall and RDM possess proven expertise in advanced indirect fire systems. The company mentioned in its statement that at a test-firing event held at the Alkantpan test range in South Africa in 2019, Rheinmetall and RDM achieved several new range records for indirect artillery fire with various guns, attaining maximum ranges of up to 76 kilometers. This display of technological achievement and capability, the company said, sparked the interest of artillery users across the globe. RDM has embarked on a phased development approach, including the continuous improvement in range capability of artillery ammunition. The range demonstration showed the potential of the first phase and reinforces RDM's goal of meeting a user-specified range requirement of more than 155 km, according to the German company.

You might be interested also