PARIS \u2015 Nexter\u2019s orders last year were worth about \u20ac869 million more than the previous year\u2019s, according to St\u00e9phane Mayer, the chairman and CEO of the French land weapons company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nexter received orders last year worth \u20ac1.64 billion (U.S. $2.04 billion), up from \u20ac771 million in the year prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a very good year,\u201d he said Feb. 6 at a news conference. The orders were the company\u2019s highest in more than 20 years, buoyed by deals sealed with clients including Denmark, Indonesia and France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exports accounted for 58 percent of 2017 orders, down from 60 percent, with domestic deals accounting for the balance. Sales for 2017 are undergoing validation, and this would also be a big increase on the previous year, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nexter is waiting to see the British requirement for its mechanized infantry vehicle program, he said. The French company and its German partner, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, will decide whether to pitch either the VBCI or Boxer, or both armored vehicles depending on details of the British request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The British Army knows the VBCI well, as it made an appearance in a military exercise last year, Mayer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The VBCI and Boxer compete in the market for an eight-wheel drive armored vehicle, a rare case of internal competition in the KNDS joint venture, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Belgian order is expected later this year on a fleet of Griffon multirole troop carriers and Jaguar combat and reconnaissance vehicles, following a letter of intent signed last year, he said. Nexter also expects a contract from Qatar on its VBCI fighting vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nexter is \u201cstill waiting\u201d for a French selection in a tender for a Light VBMR armored vehicle, with an initial 400 units to be ordered, rising to 1,900 including options, he said. Industry sources have said France picked Nexter, beating Renault Trucks Defense, a key unit of Swedish truck-maker Volvo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nexter expects to deliver the first three Griffons toward the end of 2018, with production rising in 2019, he said. One of the 6 prototypes appeared in the prestige-laden July 14, 2017, military parade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The worth of orders in 2017 were the company\u2019s highest in more than 20 years, buoyed by deals sealed with clients including Denmark, Indonesia and France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,12,36],"tags":[8613,8614],"coauthors":[464],"class_list":["post-18337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-industry","category-newsletters","tag-france","tag-germany"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OA5JWAXCHBB4BCVMY4HFKCHUYU","arc_canonical_url":"\/industry\/2018\/02\/06\/nexters-very-good-2017-was-over-1b-better-than-2016\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n