2023-06-07 15:04:12
In this wooded landscape of Lower Saxony, the Rheinmetall armaments group is operating the country’s largest defense industrial complex at full speed to cover the needs for armored vehicles and ammunition for the Ukrainian front and to replenish the stocks of the Member States of NATO.
“We are working hard on the production of ammunition for tanks”, explains Harald Weismüller, director at the Unterlüss factory, north of Hanover, in a noise of machines that display most of them decades of service. .
Rheinmetall is the largest European manufacturer of ammunition for tanks and artillery pieces, ahead of the Norwegian Nammo or the French Nexter.
Flagship product of the Unterlüss site: the 120 mm shells intended for the Leopard 2 armored vehicle, this German battle tank that Berlin agreed to deliver to Kiev this year after months of hesitation.
From 60,000 pieces produced per year before the Russian war against Ukraine, the rate has risen to 240,000.
Rheinmettal produces “400 to 500 units per eight-hour tour”, being able to “further increase the rate”, assures Mr. Weismüller.
A position that will be strengthened with the recent takeover by the German group of the Spanish manufacturer Expal, leader in 120 mm shells.
Centennial factory
Ukraine is constantly calling on the West to deliver more armor, artillery, ammunition, putting pressure on production capacities within the European Union (EU).
The European Commission presented in early May a plan endowed with 500 million euros to accelerate the pace and reach a volume of one million shells per year produced in the EU.
In this context, the European Commissioner for Industry Thierry Breton went a few weeks ago to the production halls of Unterlüss, where weapons have been manufactured since 1899.
New machines have been installed there, for example to improve the milling of heavy cannons weighing several tons, as well as new production lines.
A highly automated unit to produce 35mm shells fired at high speed by the anti-aircraft tank Gepard, also delivered to Ukraine, “should start in less than six weeks”, according to Mr. Weissmüller.
One rotation per day is planned at the start, i.e. “a capacity of up to 500,000 shells per year”, he specifies.
The production of these shells was until then only located in Switzerland, but the Confederation refusing their export to conflict zones, including Ukraine, the additional manufacture in Germany will allow the company to break the impasse.
As for the 155 mm shells intended for the “Haubitze” armored vehicles, with their long barrel capable of hitting a target 25 kilometers away, the production capacity has increased from 40,000 to 140,000 units per year.
Boneless tanks
In several halls, old armored vehicles of the German army, with their rust marks, are completely stripped to be rehabilitated for a new life on the field of operations, in particular in Ukraine.
What relentlessly occupy the 2,400 employees of the site, where the tests of the Leopard 2 gun resonate muted, coming from the adjacent launch pad, the largest in Europe with a length of 15 kilometers.
The war in Ukraine, but also the rapid rearmament initiated by Germany since last year, have given new impetus to Rheinmetall’s business.
In the spring, the group joined the Dax index of the main stocks on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, alongside the behemoths Siemens and BASF. Its share price has more than doubled since the Russian invasion and its order book, worth 18.5 billion euros, is three times the turnover of 2022.
Next step: setting up directly in Ukraine. The German manufacturer recently joined forces with the Ukrainian public military conglomerate Ukroboronprom to repair and then subsequently manufacture military vehicles directly on site.
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