Rheinmetall plans to send Ukraine hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds before year-end
Rheinmetall plans in 2024 to deliver to Ukraine hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, including long-range prototypes.
That’s according to CEO Armin Papperger, who spoke at a meeting with members of the Association of Journalists of Business Publications, Ukrinform reports with reference to Handelsblatt.
According to Papperger, the industrial group is mainly focused on producing artillery shells and will deliver "hundreds of thousands of rounds" to Ukraine as early as this year. Those will include prototypes of artillery shells with a 100-km range.
"Artillery changes the rules," emphasized the chief of Rheinmetall.
According to him, now Ukraine can only respond to Russian attacks to a limited extent due to an ammunition shortage.
He noted that both in Europe and the USA, the capacity for the munitions production o has been decreasing over the recent years.
Before Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Rheinmetall’s annual capacity stood at nearly 70,000 rounds. This year, the group expects to reach 700,000, and in the medium term aims at 1.1 million. To this end, Rheinmetall is building a plant in Unterluss. A new production line is being set up in Lithuania. In Ukraine, the company also plans to build a munitions factory.
Papperger called the main problem for boosting ammunition production the fact that Germany has no own production of explosives. Most of them are imported from China.
According to the assessment by the Rheinmetall CEO, it will take nearly a decade for the defense industry to replenish the Bundeswehr's stocks to the proper level after they have been depleted, including as a result of equipment donations to Ukraine.
As reported, Rheinmetall is one of the largest arms suppliers to Ukraine. In addition to military hardware repairs, the group also has plans for the joint production of armored vehicles on Ukrainian soil.