Rheinmetall’s Oct. 29, 2026 press release confirmed a fresh call‑off for the Schakal (Jackal) wheeled infantry‑fighting vehicle that directly affects Germany’s supplier base: 35 vehicles for the Bundeswehr and 34 for the Netherlands, with Rheinmetall’s share of the options worth a medium, three‑digit million‑euro sum. For German drivers and dealers this is not a consumer story — but for the country’s automotive and vehicle‑systems suppliers it is a welcome new flow of long‑range orders and secured workloads for the next years.
The contract and who benefits
The European defence organisation OCCAR has commissioned Artec GmbH (the Boxer joint venture of Rheinmetall and KNDS Deutschland) to deliver the additional Schakal vehicles; Rheinmetall says the two option call‑offs represent a combined order value for the group in the "medium three‑digit million‑euro range" and that deliveries are planned between May 2032 and November 2033. The main contract, originally awarded in October 2025, already covered 222 Boxer‑family vehicles and included options that now bring the total programme to 291 vehicles after this call‑off.
Rheinmetall’s statement explicitly lists German industry partners and suppliers who will make key assemblies and components on this programme: Rheinmetall itself, KNDS Deutschland, MTU and Hensoldt, plus “many other small and medium‑sized champions” in the national land‑systems sector. That phrasing underlines that work will cascade down to numerous tier‑1 and tier‑2 suppliers, many of whom also serve automotive markets with chassis, powertrain and electronics modules.
