The arms company Rheinmetall wants to produce artillery ammunition with a local partner in Ukraine. A corresponding contract was signed on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
The arms company Rheinmetall wants to produce artillery ammunition together with a local partner in Ukraine. A so-called memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture was signed on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, as the Düsseldorf-based group announced. The “Ukrainian Competence Center for Ammunition” is expected to produce a six-figure number of bullets per year in the future. The two partners want to build a new production facility and operate it together in the future.
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Rheinmetall will hold 51 percent of the shares in the joint venture, and the initially unnamed Ukrainian partner will hold 49 percent. “The need for artillery ammunition in many countries is enormous – first and foremost, of course, in Ukraine,” explained Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger. The joint venture will “make a significant contribution to Ukraine’s defense capability and thus serve security in Europe.”
Allies increase production of ammunition
Rheinmetall founded its first joint venture with the Ukrainian state-owned company Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC in Kiev in October 2023. Emergency vehicles are maintained and repaired there, and armored vehicles will also be manufactured later.
In January, France, Germany and more than 20 other countries launched an artillery coalition in Paris to strengthen Ukraine in the war against Russia. To do this, the Allies must increase the production of cannons and ammunition.
Scholz broke ground for a new Rheinmetall ammunition factory in Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, on Monday. The plant is expected to produce 200,000 rounds of artillery ammunition annually. Across Europe, Rheinmetall is expected to increase its production to up to 700,000 artillery shells per year by 2025.
