Steyr-Daimler-Puch special vehicle

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Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH
legal form GmbH
founding 1998
Seat Vienna , Austria
Number of employees 160
Branch Defense industry

The Steyr-Daimler-Puch special vehicle GmbH ( SSF ) is an Austrian arms manufacturer , in 1998 from the Upper Austrian Steyr Daimler Puch spun -Werken, and was sold to an Austrian investor group. SSF sold this in 2003 to the US defense company General Dynamics , which incorporated the company into the European subsidiary General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS), which is based in Madrid .

production

Pandur armored car

SSF currently produces the Pandur wheeled tank (or its successor, the Pandur II ), the Ulan tank and the SP30 turret . Both development and production take place in the Vienna-Simmering plant.

history

Today's company Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug consists of parts of the former Austrian weapons factory , the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and the Puch-Werke . The company's best- known product is the Pandur armored vehicle , which is manufactured in Vienna-Simmering.

As an Austrian company, SSF is subject to the strict provisions of the Neutrality Act from the State Treaty , which is why weapons and military equipment may not be delivered to "crisis regions". However, since the definition of the legal text leaves room for interpretation, the company was allowed to export 66 troop transports to Zimbabwe in 2001 , shortly before the EU imposed an arms embargo on this country, and on the other hand, Steyr Mannlicher , a rifle manufacturer also from Steyr-Daimler -Puch works did not export to South America, as the Interior Ministry decided.

Takeover by General Dynamics

In October 2003 the Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH became a 100 percent subsidiary of the American General Dynamics Corporation and fully integrated into the subsidiary "General Dynamics European Land Systems". At that time, around 350 people were employed at the Vienna-Simmering site.

In October 2013 it was speculated that the US owner could move production of the Pandur to Portugal and close the Simmering plant. The tank production in Vienna-Simmering was finally temporarily shut down in 2014 after a major order from Kuwait expired . Only maintenance, repair and services for SK-105, Ulan and Pandur vehicles as well as the development and construction of prototypes were continued. The number of employees was reduced from 310 to around 100.

In 2015, the Czech Czechoslovak Group (or its subsidiary Excalibur Army) received the license rights to produce Pandur armored vehicles until 2039. Since then, orders have been received there from, among others, Indonesia and the Czech Republic, which in 2017 will have a further 20 Pandur (in special versions as a guide and radio vehicles) ordered from the licensee. Production is carried out by Tatra Defense Vehicle in Kopřivnice .

When the Austrian Armed Forces received a new order for 34 Pandur for 105 million euros in 2017, production in Vienna was resumed and the number of employees increased by around ten percent to 160. The vehicles will be delivered from May 2018 to 2020.

Large orders (selection)

  • 2004: The Portuguese army orders 260 Pandur for 344 million euros
  • 2009: The Czech army orders 107 Pandur wheeled armored vehicles for 578 million euros
  • 2017: The Austrian Armed Forces orders 34 Pandur wheeled armored vehicles for EUR 105 million

Corruption affairs

In 2006 the Czech government decided to purchase 199 Pandur wheeled armored vehicles for the equivalent of around 822 million euros (21 billion Czech crowns), which should be delivered to the Czech military from 2007 . In 2007, however, the order was canceled due to alleged quality defects. Following a corruption investigation, a close advisor to the Czech premier was sentenced to several years in prison for attempting to extort bribes from SSF, which is said not to have happened. In 2009 the Czech Republic finally ordered 107 Pandur.

Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug was involved in a major corruption scandal in Thailand. The municipality of Bangkok ( Bangkok Metropolitan Administration , BMA) ordered 2004 SSF 315 fire engines and 30 fighting boats for the Bangkok Fire Department at a cost of 6.6 billion baht (at that price about 125 million euros), 49% above the previously customary prices . Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin , who bailed out the business after taking office in November 2004 but was unaware of bribes, resigned in 2008. In September 2013, the former Deputy Interior Minister of Thailand Pracha Maleenond was sentenced to a prison term of 12 years, the former Bangkok Deputy Head of Civil Protection and Relief Athilak Tanchukiat was sentenced to ten years (both escaped the sentence by fleeing abroad). Apirak Kosayodhin was acquitted. Despite being summoned, Steyr did not send a representative to the trial. The widow and daughters of the late Samak Sundaravej , who was Governor of Bangkok at the time of the corruption-ridden appointment and later Prime Minister of Thailand, were asked to pay damages amounting to 587 million baht (approx. 13 million euros) to the in April 2014 BMA condemned the fugitive Pracha Maleenond. The amount corresponds to 30% of the total damage of 1.958 billion baht (approx. 43.7 million euros).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://orf.at/#/stories/2203748/ Production of Steyr-Pandur tanks to Portugal ORF.at from October 25, 2013
  2. ^ Tank manufacturer Steyr ends production in Vienna. In: Wiener Zeitung (online), March 18, 2014.
  3. ↑ Český Excalibur bude vyrábět pandury, získal na to licenci , February 3, 2015 (accessed on January 20, 2020)
  4. ↑ tt.com: Pandur armored cars are being sold from the Czech Republic to Indonesia , November 24, 2016 (accessed on January 20, 2020)
  5. ↑ parlamentnilisty.cz: Tatra Defense Vehicle předala armádě první speciální pandury , December 15, 2019 (accessed on January 20, 2020)
  6. ↑ a b Army orders 34 tanks in Simmering . April 21, 2017 ( orf.at [accessed January 20, 2020]).
  7. ↑ a b http://orf.at/#/stories/2144873/ Steyr-Deal: Adviser to Prague's ex-prime minister in custody, ORF.at October 8, 2012
  8. ↑ kurier.at: Tug of war over the corruption affair , September 27, 2015 (accessed on January 20, 2020)
  9. ↑ Pracha gets jail, Apirak acquitted in fire trucks scandal. In: Bangkok Post , September 10, 2013.
  10. ↑ Samak's wife, Pracha ordered by court to pay Bt587 million to BMA. In: The Nation , April 30, 2014.
  11. ↑ B587m fire-trucks damages order against Samak's heirs. In: Bangkok Post , April 30, 2014.