Rheinmetall has successfully completed development of the latest generation of its enhanced armour-piercing 120 mm kinetic energy (KE) ammunition to counter state-of-the-art protection technologies, the company announced on 8 October 2024.
The qualification readiness of the KE2020Neo or eKE (enhanced Kinetic Energy) ammunition has also been proven and, as a result, Rheinmetall has been commissioned by the Bundeswehr and the British Army to manufacture qualification samples of the new ammunition. A corresponding official qualification contract was signed in September 2020 by the Federal Office for the Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support of the Bundeswehr (BAAINBw) and the management of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition.
The new 120 mm × 570 KE2020Neo kinetic energy ammunition continues the successful series of KE rounds from Rheinmetall. Thanks to the use of new technologies, the ammunition’s high-strength tungsten penetrator will be able to penetrate the latest protection technologies, according to Rheinmetall.
The company’s current KE projectiles also use a high-strength tungsten penetrator to offer superior performance against modern armour. The first generation to come into use was the DM13, which was followed by the more powerful DM23 in the mid-1980s and then the DM33. Rheinmetall developed two types of performance-enhanced KE ammunition when the Leopard 2 main battle tank (MBT) was upgraded to the A6 version. These were the forerunners of the DM53 and DM63 rounds currently used by the Bundeswehr. The DM63 is now available in a REACh-compliant A1 version. The enhanced DM73, meanwhile, is currently the most advanced iteration, which has been introduced in the Bundeswehr for use with the L55A1 high-pressure gun.
Rheinmetall’s 120 mm Rh120 guns, along with their associated ammunition, are the de facto standard armament for MBTs in NATO and the Western hemisphere. The Rh120 gun, the L55A1, was introduced into service in 2019 on the Leopard 2A7V/2A7+ and will also arm the British Army’s future fleet of Challenger 3 MBTs and the Swedish Army’s Strv 123A MBTs.
