Germany's Arminius programme: Rheinmetall expects €12.4 billion from the first Boxer contract — and up to 5,500 vehicles in total

Rheinmetall expects to secure roughly €12.4 billion of vehicle business from Germany's Arminius procurement programme, Chief Executive Armin Papperger told analysts on the company's second-quarter 2026 earnings call. Arminius is the Bundeswehr's umbrella programme to rebuild its armoured wheeled-vehicle fleet around the GTK Boxer, and if all planned stages are realised, Germany could acquire as many as 5,500 additional Boxers by around 2040 — on top of the 861 vehicles already ordered.

Papperger described the €12.4 billion as the company's expected share of the initial vehicle contract. "There is a fixed contract about the vehicles. EUR 12.4 billion for vehicles," he said. Because Rheinmetall and KNDS Deutschland each hold 50% of the Artec consortium behind the Boxer, the full value of that initial vehicle package is expected to approach €25 billion. German media reports indicate the firm order covers roughly 1,800 GTK Boxer vehicles.

Contract timeline

The contracting timetable is tight. Final negotiations between the consortium and the Bundeswehr were scheduled for the second week of September 2026, and Papperger expected the Bundestag to consider the funding on 9 December, with signing possible five to ten days later. That would place the award just before Rheinmetall closes its financial year; management has said the company could then receive a 30% advance payment worth more than €3 billion in December or January.

A second Arminius contract is expected to cover in-service support for the newly ordered Boxer fleet. Papperger put the total value at about €4 billion, of which roughly €2 billion would accrue to Rheinmetall, and said the agreement could be finalised in January 2027. Together with the vehicle contract, that would bring Rheinmetall's expected business from the initial package to about €14.4–14.5 billion.

Options and ceiling

Arminius extends well beyond the first phase. Artec has presented the Bundeswehr with two options for additional vehicle orders. The first, valued at around €14 billion for Rheinmetall, would cover deliveries between 2030 and 2035; the second, around €12 billion, would provide a further tranche of vehicles later. Combined, the options are worth about €26 billion to Rheinmetall. If those sums represent only the company's 50% share of Artec, the full industrial value of the options could be roughly €28 billion and €24 billion respectively — placing the theoretical ceiling for Arminius near €77 billion when added to the initial package.

Papperger was explicit that this is an upper-end scenario rather than a firm programme value: the wider framework agreement has not been fixed, the options remain industry proposals, and he could not guarantee that the Bundeswehr will ultimately sign them. Nothing beyond the initial package has been agreed or funded.

Variants

Arminius would span a wide range of Boxer configurations. Variants under consideration include the Schakal infantry fighting vehicle and the RCH 155 self-propelled howitzer, as well as command vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, medical evacuation vehicles, bridge-laying systems, driver-training platforms, artillery reconnaissance vehicles and air-defence variants fitted with the Skyranger 30 turret. According to hartpunkt's reporting, command Boxers and Skyranger air-defence vehicles make up the bulk of the reported firm order, alongside bridge layers, further RCH 155s, troop transports, ambulance and driver-training Boxers, JFST heavy Boxers and NNbS air-defence missile carriers.

The programme would give both Artec owners production work extending well into the next decade, and it would be one of the largest potential additions to Rheinmetall's order book. The company reported a backlog of €80.4 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2026, about 44% higher than a year earlier.

Germany's Arminius programme: Rheinmetall expects €12.4 billion from the first Boxer contract — and up to 5,500 vehicles in total

Contract timeline

Options and ceiling

Variants

Sources