Rheinmetall building XM30 prototypes at recently acquired U.S.-based factories

American Rheinmetall is putting together mock-ups of its bid for the Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle replacement at U.S. factories it bought last fall, the parent company's CEO announced today.

“The prototype production is running, so I have seen the first prototype,” Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG, told analysts in a first-quarter earnings call May 8.

Rheinmetall bought out Loc Performance Products, LLC last November for $950 million, the goal being to get a better grip in the U.S. market as the vendor vies for programs like XM30 and Common Tactical Truck.

“We want to produce the XM30 in one of these factories,” Papperger said.

This comes as the Army recently postponed the program’s milestone B decision that would launch critical design reviews in the engineering and manufacturing development phase. That turning point had been slated for the end of March, but it should now fall sometime in late June, an Army spokesperson told Inside Defense last month.

But XM30 is still on time, according to Papperger; the Army will choose between Rheinmetall and U.S. prime General Dynamics Land Systems in 2027 -- although by the end of 2026 he expects to “get a smell who will win it.”

“Loc is doing very well,” Papperger went on. “The profitability is good . . . if you see when we bought it, our calculations were lower than we reached at the moment.”

Loc contributed €116 million ($130.2 million) to the Düsseldorf-based company’s total vehicle systems sales growth this quarter, which came out at €952 million ($1.07 billion). That’s nearly double last year’s quarterly figure, a 93% uptick, according to the company.

The acquisition came with four factories -- three in Michigan and one in Ohio -- which Papperger visited a few weeks ago, and he was surprised to see “how big these factories are, how much space we have and how much technology they have.”

Rheinmetall has a workforce of about 1,400, “which is a good team for XM30 and CTT and Loc is really focused on that stuff,” he said. Papperger estimated earlier this month that in the next five years, his company will double its current U.S. sales, which are at $1.1 billion.

“My expectation is that we have a good chance” at winning out on the XM30, he said on the call.