There were several interesting movements taking place in the military equipment and supplier industries this week, but one that caught my attention in particular was that for Rheinmetall, a major German military-industrial supplier that I have warned about, based on my reviews, could become another IG Farben type company as she seems to be receiving strong backing from the German government and the world inches towards war.
As such, to regular Shoebat readers, you should not be surprised to hear that Rheinmetall, according to Defence Blog, was just awarded a major contract to build heavy-duty tractor trailers for the Bundeswehr.
The German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr, has contracted with Rheinmetall to supply it with additional heavy tractor trailers with a 70-tonne payload.
According to a press release issued earlier in December 2020 by Rheinmetall, delivery of a further 24 unprotected heavy tractor trailers – dubbed the SaZgM 70t mil in German military parlance – is to take place in 2021, with a further 24 to follow in 2022.
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The Rheinmetall HX81 SaZgM is powered by an eight-cylinder, 680 hp diesel engine. This enables the high-mobility all-wheel drive truck to attain a top speed of 89 km/h, and to handle inclines of 60 percent. Its permissible gross train weight comes to around 130 tonnes. The HX81 SaZgM features the same driver’s cab as the Rheinmetall UTF, the Bundeswehr’s family of unprotected trucks. If required, the cab can be exchanged for a protected version. The vehicle also comes with a two-winch system made by the Rotzler company, in which each winch has a tractive force of twenty tonnes.
The HX81 expands the German military’s family of heavy transport vehicles. Thus, the unprotected HX81 complements the protected heavy-duty Mammut (‘Mammoth’), which was also supplied by RMMV. Given Germany’s obligation to provide the rapid reaction NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in 2023 (VJTF 2023), being able to transport heavy combat vehicles is a key capability. (source)
I am not a financial advisor, I do not give financial advice. What I say is just my observations based on trend patterns. That said, given how Rheinmetall is being pushed into such a position of money and power continually by the German government, there is a strong chance their stock is going to rise and they will become much more influential in German defense affairs.
The issue here is not of a few trucks here, or a few tanks here. Such things are normal. The important thing is that the Bundeswehr has openly expressed a desire to assert herself more openly on the stage of world politics, and because of this as well as the rise in nationalism, anti-immigration sentiments, tensions with Russia and the US, and the cycles of German history, all things point to historical signs of a coming war, not immediately, but in about a decade.
Politicians, economists, and talking heads of all things can say what they want. The real proof is in what people buy and sell on transaction records, and when one sees a lot of weapons, arms, or other military purchases being made, unless there is a reason to suggest they are being made for another reason, it only points to war preparations, and in the case of Germanic history, what is traditionally done against her neighbors.