DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Together with a U.S. partner, defense contractor Rheinmetall has a foot in the door to a major U.S. Army truck contract. An American subsidiary of the MDax group is now building prototypes for heavy-duty trucks for the U.S. military in the first phase of a major procurement program with General Motors subsidiary GM Defense, the Düsseldorf-based company announced Monday. For contractual reasons, a Rheinmetall company spokesman would not comment on the order value of the prototype phase. U.S. media have cited a volume of a good $24 million for several companies for this first phase.

In the so-called Common Tactical Truck (CTT) program, the US Army plans to replace its truck fleet with up to 40,000 new trucks; the overall program is worth up to $14 billion (€13 billion). Rheinmetall and its partner plan to offer the HX3 truck, which is based on commercial trucks from the VW and Traton brand MAN. Rheinmetall teamed up with GM Defense for the project last year./men/ngu/jha/