User:Stickhandler/Sandbox/Bode family

The Bode family is a prominent German family descended from engineer August Bode, who in 1912 took over Wegmann & Co., a railway car manufacturer and at the height of World War I was given an order for the construction of the first German tank, the K-Wagen.

August continued on with the railway car business and as a result built the Führer's trains. During World War Two, armoured combat vehicles were assembled and, above all, tank turrets were produced by the family firm.

In 1960 August's sons, Engelhard and Fritz, took over the management of the firm. In the early 1960s, the company participated in the development and production of the Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 main battle tanks. Later, the Light Artillery Rocket System (LARS), which was used by the Bundeswehr from 1969 to 2000, was added to their armament production range.

In 1999 the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann company was formed, and in 2015 the family holding company joined forces in a 1:1 ratio with Nexter, the French State-Owned Enterprise which specializes in armaments like the Leclerc MBT, to form KMW+Nexter Defense Systems (KNDS).

In 2017 KNDS was given the lead together with Rheinmetall on the fourth-generation Main Ground Combat System MBT.

Manfred Bode was charged with corruption in the sale of Leopard 2 MBT to Greece, but his death in October 2018 came before he was sentenced.

Members

 * Engelhard Bode (manager from 1960)
 * Fritz Bode (manager from 1960)
 * Manfred Bode (manager from 1979, board member of KNDS in 2015 )
 * Wolfgang Bode (manager from 1979)
 * Felix Bode (board member from 2018 )