The production of artillery shell in a rheinmetall factory at the cutting edge of technology will be almost twice initial corporate targets and, thanks to the almost bottom demand for the ammunition drawn by the war, production and profits of Russo-Ukrraine for comments from German industry.
A brand new Center for the production of Rheinmetall artillery shells in the lower village of Unterlüß, in line in 2026, will be able to produce up to 350,000 155 mm shells per year instead of the 200,000 planned, Papperger told the great German publication Handelsblatt in an interview.
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Rheinmetall inaugurated the installation of UNTERLüß of $ 341 million (€ 300) in February 2024. In addition to artillery ammunition – in particular the 155 mm war Shell Howitzer – The factory will employ 500 workers producing 1,900 tonnes of explosive RDX and, optional, other components for the production of remuneration charges. In addition, the production of rocket engines and perhaps warheads could take place here, said a business press release.
Unterlüß will become the second largest artillery factory in Europe after a factory belonging to Rheinmetall in Spain, where 450,000 shells per year will be produced each year, Papperberger said.
After first-person drones (FPV), the most effective weapon used by both sides of the Russo-Ukraine War is artillery. Thanks to Deliveries of American weapons on-off and the orders of the slow European government to companies like Rheinmetall, the Ukrainian army, in more than three years of conventional combat against Russia, has faced multiple shortages of paralyzing shells, the most severely in the second half of 2022 and in the first five months of 2024.
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The production of Russian shell is greater than that of Europe and since January 2024, the ally of Russia, in North Korea, sent to Moscow four million additional artillery shells, allowing the artillery of the Russian army to strongly exceed the armed forces of Ukraine (AFU) during most of the war.
The Ukrainian military research group Defense Defense Express reported on Thursday that the Rheinmetall global production capacity of 750,000 artillery shells is the most important agency, by any state or company, to help AFU rejoice this Russian advantage.
An Rheinmetall production graph published by Handelsblatt put the total number of artillery shells manufactured by the company in 2022 to 70,000 rpm, and the number planned in 2027 to 1.1 million laps. Some military media reported that the figure could reach 1.5 to 1.7 shells if the place in place to accelerate production succeeds.
This Rheinmetall graph shows that the company 2022 is completed and the manufacturing volumes planned for 2027 levels of production of key products.
Rheinmetall mainly manufactures artillery shells in Germany and Spain and invests in an increasing production capacity, but the company also builds new factories in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark and Ukraine; And negotiates with Poland and Romania, said Defense Express.
The Ukrainian factory will provide “much more” than the 150,000 shells of 155 mm originally per year and production will start in 2026, Papperberger said.
Rheinmetall sales at the end of 2024 increased by 36% to $ 1.1 billion (9.75 billion euros), operating profit increased by 61% to $ 1.68 billion (1.48 billion euros), and an order backlog of $ 62.5 billion (55 billion euros) and sales in 2025 Projected to increase 35 to 40%, Handelnd reported.
Optimist comments from Papperberger to Handelsblatt came to the wake of the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the new CDU-SPD government in Berlin intends to launch a major rearmament program for the National Army, the Bundeswehr, and that the widen German arms deliveries will be a higher priority of foreign policy.
In an interview of April 13 on ARD television, Merz said that the continuous Russian targeting of Ukrainian civilians carried out the necessary transfer of Taurus cruise missiles guided by precision to kyiv, so that Ukraine can attack the Russian supply roads carrying the ammunition used by the forces of Moscow to strike the Ukrainian cities.
“Putin … must be informed, if he does not stop bombing the civilian population in Ukraine in 24 hours, Taurus cruise missiles must be delivered in Ukraine, in order to destroy the supply chains that this regime uses,” said Merz. “I am not convinced that Putin will react positively to the offers of weakness and peace. He must at one point have to make the despair of this war, which means that we must also help Ukraine. ”
Merz then suggested that the Taurus missiles could target the Kerch bridge connecting the Russian continent to the Crimea peninsula occupied by Russia, a main supply base for the Russian forces operating in the south of Ukraine.
Germany is the second largest supplier of Ukraine weapons after the United States. Among the most critical German weapons and ammunition provided to Ukraine, there were hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, advanced anti -aircraft missile systems, air defense cannon, air defense radars and, more recently, recognition and strike drones. A limited number of German tanks, artillery and infantry combat vehicles are also used by AFU.
Before taking control of the White House by Populist President Donald J. Trump, America, like Europe, was a large supplier of artillery shells, but had extended production more slowly than Rheinmetall. Rheinmetall is a listed company. US Shell Manufacturing largely belongs to the State. Trump, since his arrival in the office, has mainly enabled the deliveries of American shells previously under contract to go to Ukraine, but said on several occasions that his administration is opposed to the sending of kyiv more weapons and American ammunition.
The Defense and Security Monitor based in the United States (DSM) in a Wednesday report said that the volumes of production of American artillery shells were almost certain to remain stagnant and likely to fall because Trump’s prices on products imported in the United States had increased production costs by shell in the country.
The imported intermediate materials necessary for American factories to produce artillery shells include steel, iron, aluminum, copper – which have all been affected by specific prices for the sector, depending on the report, which makes steel boxes, brass parts, lead nuclei and molding machines necessary for more expensive American manufacturers.
The short-term result was a peak of 25% of the cost of producing an artillery shell finished in the United States and cost exceeding for government factories doing the work, DSM reported.
The Kremlin reacted furiously to the suggestion of Merz according to which the German cruise missiles of high technology and guided by precision should reach the battlefields of Ukraine.
“Any attack with cruise missiles on Russian targets would mean a German direct involvement in the war, a statement from the Russian Ministry of Russian Affairs on Thursday.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow Media on Wednesday, even the transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine would be “an inevitable escalation”.
Dmitriy Medvedev, former Russian president and current vice-president of the Russian Security Council, smoked in an “X” commentary: “The candidate of Chancellor Fritz (Friedrich) Merz is haunted by the memory of his father, who served in the bridge of Hitler. Think Twlice, Nazi! ”
