Rheinmetall has settled its authorized dispute with the unique developer of the Leopard 2, retreating from earlier claims about rights to the battle tank from its chief government.

Germany’s largest defence contractor on Tuesday morning issued a “clarification” relating to feedback made by its chief government Armin Papperger in March, when he informed a Swiss newspaper that the corporate managed rights to among the older Leopard 2 fashions.

His declare prompted Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the Munich-based firm that first developed the Leopard 2 within the Seventies and builds its chassis, to final week file an injunction in opposition to Rheinmetall, which produces the tank’s cannons.

“Neither Mr Papperger nor Rheinmetall AG wished or need to categorical [ . . .] that Rheinmetall AG has unique rights to the Leopard 2A4 foremost battle tank,” Rheinmetall mentioned on Tuesday, in a press release that had been permitted by KMW.

The settlement got here simply earlier than the 2 corporations had been scheduled to fulfill in courtroom on Tuesday. KMW didn’t instantly reply to a request to remark.

The Leopard 2 has come to symbolise western assist for Kyiv, after German chancellor Olaf Scholz in January yielded to worldwide strain and agreed to Leopard 2s being despatched to Ukraine as a part of a deal made with the US.

Berlin had lengthy resisted cargo of German-made weapons into an energetic battle zone and approval to deploy tanks was a major second for Germany in addition to Ukraine, with the primary 18 German tanks having reached the war-torn nation in March.

The battle between Rheinmetall and KMW got here as the 2 main German contractors had been making ready additional collaboration to assist the historic ramp-up of navy capability in Europe’s largest financial system.

Apart from their collaboration on the Leopard 2, a three way partnership between Rheinmetall and KMW is presently working to retrofit 143 Puma infantry-fighting autos at a price of €770mn.

Rheinmetall mentioned on Tuesday that it had agreed with KMW to settle the dispute and return to enterprise as standard as rapidly as potential, as the businesses “make an necessary contribution to the safety of our nation and our allies”.

Each corporations have been key beneficiaries from hovering demand for arms from the battle in Ukraine, which final yr prompted Scholz to reverse many years of pacifist coverage and promise a €100bn particular navy fund.