The German-French defence group KNDS has acquired a factory for train wagons in Eastern Germany and will turn it into a production facility for battle tanks and armoured personnel carriers.
On February 5, the company officially announced it had signed an agreement with Alstom, a French rolling-stock manufacturer, to take over Görlitzer Waggonbau – a wagon factory in Görlitz, Saxony with a 175-year history.
KNDS and Germany’s Rheinmetall are regarded as Europe’s two main manufacturers of heavy battle tanks.
The Görlitz plant will switch production from double-decker train carriages to different parts and modules for a variety of tanks, namely the Leopard 2 and the armoured personnel carriers Puma and Boxer.
Alstom and KNDS had been negotiating over the plant for several months after Alstom announced in autumn of 2024 that it planned to close the Görlitz factory by March 2026 as it was moving production elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
The acquisition was good news for most of the 700 employees in Görlitz as KNDS said that they would take on up to 580 of them.
At an event to celebrate the signing, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said the new production line in Görlitz would “provide for more security in Germany”.
Michael Kretschmer, Saxony’s Conservative head of government, thanked Scholz – who had been instrumental in arranging the deal, according to Kretschmer.
A KNDS representative said the company valued “reliability and longevity” and it had decided to take over the plant because of its “excellent workforce”. It said would invest a “double-digit million” euro account in new production lines.
That enthusiasm was not shared by all. During the ceremony, three protests against the takeover took place in Görlitz – reportedly organised by left-wing parties Die Linke and BSW as well as the right-wing Freie Sachsen, respectively.
Altogether, around 100 people joined the protests. Some could be seen holding up signs reading “Peace instead of weapons”, local media said.
KNDS was formed in 2015 through the merger of German defence company Kraus-Maffei and the French Nexter group.
In 2023, it employed 9,500 people and had sales of €3.3 billion.
