KNDS Unveils Hybrid Tank and Malaysian Howitzer Order as Bundestag Vote Paves Way for Summer Dual Listing
23.06.2026 - 14:51:55 | boerse-global.de
The fate of one of Europe’s largest defence IPOs in years now rests with the German parliament. On 24 June, the Bundestag’s budget committee is scheduled to vote on Berlin’s formal entry into KNDS, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for a dual listing in Frankfurt and Paris that the company hopes to execute in July. Behind that procedural step lies a company that has spent the past week on the trade-show floor in Paris piling up product launches and export contracts designed to give investors a clear picture of its growth trajectory.
Malaysia became the 15th operator of the CAESAR howitzer system on 16 June, when KNDS and local partner Advanced Defense System signed a deal for 18 units of the 155 mm wheeled artillery piece. The contract, inked on the sidelines of Eurosatory 2026, marks the third CAESAR sale into the Indo-Pacific after Indonesia and Thailand and underscores Southeast Asia’s accelerating shift toward NATO-standard artillery. With roughly 800 CAESAR systems ordered or delivered worldwide, the system has become KNDS’s cash cow – but a much larger prize is looming across the Atlantic.
The US Army expects to award a contract for self-propelled howitzers by July, with a potential order of up to 500 units and production possibly starting in 2028. KNDS, teamed with Leonardo DRS, is battling Hanwha of South Korea, Rheinmetall and Elbit America for the programme, which would first replace the towed M777s of the 81st Stryker Brigade before expanding to infantry units. A win would hand KNDS a beachhead in the world’s biggest defence market.
Alongside the artillery deals, KNDS used Eurosatory as a launchpad for a wave of new hardware tailored to the drone-age battlefield. The centrepiece was CAPINT, a hybrid main battle tank that marries a Leopard 2 chassis from KNDS Deutschland with an unmanned Ascalon turret from KNDS France. The crew sits fully protected in the hull; the turret packs a 120 mm smoothbore gun with a 22-round autoloader, upgradeable to 140 mm, plus an ARX30 remote weapon station firing 225 rounds per minute for drone defence. CAPINT is designed as a stop-gap ahead of the troubled MGCS next-generation tank programme and functions as a networked node linking drones, unmanned ground vehicles and a digital command platform. In January, KNDS already achieved what it calls a world first by successfully firing a weapon from a tank demonstrator with a remote turret in Portugal.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying KNDS?
Beyond armour, the company rolled out a full portfolio of counter-drone and loitering munition systems. TARGAS is a fully integrated detection-and-neutralisation ecosystem for drones, cruise missiles and helicopters. A containerised launcher built into a 20-foot ISO container integrates Helsing HX-2 loitering drones for attack and Tytan TI-1 METIS interceptors for defence, complete with its own power and climate control. The MTO-T, KNDS’s first ground-based loitering munition, draws on lessons from Ukraine to protect soldiers during breach operations. Nokia Defense also announced a partnership to embed 5G connectivity into the VBCI infantry fighting vehicle, keeping troops and robots linked in real time even after dismounting.
The financial foundations for the IPO are equally solid. Revenue rose 16% last year to €4.4 billion, while operating profit jumped from €500 million to €661 million. The order backlog hit a record €33.1 billion – 7.5 times annual sales, compared with a typical one-to-two ratio at industrial peers. New orders worth €13.5 billion landed in 2025 alone.
Under the ownership structure agreed for the flotation, France and Germany will each hold 40%, with both governments planning to gradually reduce their stakes to roughly 30% over two to three years. That leaves a free float of about 20%. The families who control half of KNDS NV have already approved the sale of 40% to the German government.
KNDS at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
Yet the rosy outlook is tempered by the unresolved fate of the Main Ground Combat System, the Franco-German next-generation tank programme that has consumed only €25 million since 2017. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger warned publicly that France is considering slashing the MGCS budget by more than half, and said he cannot guarantee the programme’s survival. KNDS CEO Jean-Paul Alary called a failure of MGCS "very bad news for Europe." As a hedge, KNDS Deutschland and Rheinmetall are pursuing the Leopard 3 independently, with an expected service entry in the early 2030s.
The Berlin vote on Wednesday will decide whether this carefully calibrated narrative – strong financials, a packed product pipeline and overseas expansion – can be delivered to public investors within weeks. If the Bundestag gives its blessing, KNDS will become the biggest European defence IPO in recent memory, with a valuation that could top €20 billion. If not, the summer target slides away, leaving the company to wait on political winds that are notoriously hard to predict.
Ad
KNDS Stock: New Analysis - 23 June
Fresh KNDS information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
