Rheinmetall, represented by the Rheinmetall Nitrochemie Group, and America’s ATK (Alliant Techsystems, NYSE: ATK) have signed a strategic cooperation agreement which includes the transfer of military propellant technology to the United States.
This agreement expands Rheinmetall’s role in the important US market, opening up new sales opportunities in North America and other key global export markets to Rheinmetall Nitrochemie propellant technologies. The agreement entitles ATK, America’s leading ammunition maker, to produce and market state-of-the-art powder and propellant systems for various types of ammunition in North America to the governments and other ammunition producers under Rheinmetall Nitrochemie licence. ATK has already served as Rheinmetall Nitrochemie’s exclusive sales partner in the US since 2005, securing a number of orders and development contracts from the US armed forces. In the medium term, Rheinmetall Nitrochemie plans to establish its own facility for powder processing in the US in cooperation with ATK.
Owing to their special characteristics, Rheinmetall Nitrochemie propellants achieve a significant increase in end-product performance coupled with improved environmental compatibility and usability in extreme temperature zones. The Rheinmetall Nitrochemie Group is jointly owned by Rheinmetall AG of Germany and RUAG of Switzerland.
Rheinmetall Nitrochemie’s core competencies include the development and production of propellants and propelling charges for military and civil applications. Besides charge systems and propelling powder for small-, medium- and large-calibre ammunition, the company makes combustible cast parts, e.g. for Rheinmetall’s modular propelling charge system, the MCS. With locations in Aschau, Germany and Wimmis, Switzerland, Rheinmetall Nitrochemie is simultaneously the Propellants Division of the Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall Defence Group, whose 9,000 employees generate annual sales of €1.9 billion.
ATK, a leading US aerospace and defence technology company, has some 18,000 employees and annual sales of around $4.8 billion. Its product portfolio encompasses a wide spectrum of different ammunition types for large- and mediumcalibre vehicle armament, mortar and infantry weapons as well as rocket engines and other propellant systems for military applications.
