Curtiss-Wright announced on 11 August 2025 that its Defense Solutions division has been selected by Rheinmetall Landsysteme to provide its modular turret drive stabilisation system (TDSS) for the Germany company’s KF51 Panther main battle tank (MBT) programme.
Under the contract Curtiss-Wright’s facility in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland, will provide Rheinmetall with its state-of-the-art modular TDSS and associated hand controllers.
The next-generation KF51 MBT features a flexible ‘future-proof’ assembly design that uses multiple drives for one axis, which Curtiss-Wright says enables the TDSS “to deliver superior flexibility for space claim design and weight distribution”.
Work under the contract began in December 2024.
Curtiss-Wright says its TDSS delivers unmatched target location accuracy and turret stabilisation while providing system integrators with an unprecedented level of freedom to define and deploy the exact solution they require.
“It uniquely enables system designers to upgrade and add stabilisation functionality as their mission requirements change,” the company stated. “The TDSS’s use of standard system configurations speeds system development and enables programmes to reach demonstration and production phases more rapidly. The use of preconfigured TDSS components also reduces the time and costs associated with the requirements definition process.”
Brian Perry, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions senior vice president and general manager, said the KF51 contract “builds on Curtiss-Wright’s long track record as a supplier of cost-effective and high-precision modular aiming and stabilization systems”.
