Qatar plans to order 118 Leopard tanks from Germany over the next seven years, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper said Sunday, citing sources close to the Qatari government.

The paper said the tanks will be manufactured by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall.

In April, Krauss-Maffei said it had won a 1.89 billion euro ($2.5 billion) contract to supply artillery systems and 86 tanks to Qatar of which 62 would be of armoured Leopard-2 type -- Germany's main battle tank.

The company said that those tanks will progressively replace Qatar's current fleet of French and South African armoured vehicles.

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RHEINMETALL