GÖRLITZ, Germany -- One year after acquiring the former Alstom rail factory in Görlitz, European defense contractor KNDS has converted more than half of the site's 70,000-square-meter production area into a military manufacturing facility. The company announced that the plant is on track to employ 400 people by the end of the year as part of a broader capacity expansion to support European military procurement.
During a site visit on Tuesday, Michael Kretschmer, the Minister-President of the German state of Saxony, and Görlitz Mayor Octavian Ursu viewed the newly completed 40th interior cabin for the German Armed Forces' Protected Transport Vehicle, known as the GTF 3. The interiors for these specialized vehicle cabins are manufactured and outfitted at the Görlitz facility before being transported to the KNDS site in Munich for painting.
The industrial transformation follows a February 2025 framework agreement in which KNDS acquired the facility from rail manufacturer Alstom. The transition from civilian rail production to defense manufacturing was initiated to address growing supply chain demands and backlogs within European defense procurement.
Beyond the GTF 3 transport vehicle components, the Görlitz factory has already integrated heavy armored vehicle manufacturing into its current operations. The facility currently produces hulls and turret housings for the Leopard 2 main battle tank, as well as modular components for various configurations of the Boxer armored vehicle. KNDS is also preparing the site to begin production on turret housings for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle and full hulls for the Boxer wheeled armored transport.
The rapid repurposing of the facility relies heavily on the region’s existing industrial workforce. According to regional officials, the transition leverages Saxony's established manufacturing base and engineering workforce to quickly secure a specialized labor pool for the defense sector, mitigating the long training timelines typically required for high-precision military manufacturing.
This facility transformation highlights a growing European trend of repurposing legacy civilian industrial infrastructure to rapidly scale up defense manufacturing. Following years of low-volume production, defense prime contractors face immense pressure to deliver heavy armor and tactical vehicles to NATO allies. By converting a massive, pre-existing rail factory rather than building a new facility from the ground up, KNDS bypassed years of environmental and construction permitting. This approach provides a blueprint for how European defense industrial bases can quickly expand capacity to meet heightened geopolitical demand.
