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Posted on 08/28/2025 9:49:53 AM PDT by Red Badger
Germany's largest arms manufacturer has inaugurated its latest munitions factory, to focus on the 155 mm artillery shells critical to supplying Ukraine. Rheinmetall's stock soared amid Europe's military spending spree.
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The Rheinmetall arms manufacturer opened a new factory at its existing site in Unterlüss in northern Germany on Wednesday, boasting that once it reaches capacity it could become Europe's biggest munitions production factility.
CEO Armin Papperger said that the production of 155 mm caliber artillery shells would be progressively ramped up, to reach 350,000 units per year by 2027. These artillery shells are in particular demand and short supply in Ukraine, and Europe and NATO members have been scrambling to replenish their stockpiles and increase production capacity.
"So I think next year we would be able to give a minimum of 100,000 [155 mm shells] to Ukraine, and then the next year maybe 200,000 to Ukraine. The rest is for other partners," Papperger told DW on Wednesday.
Rheinmetall plans to increase unit production at several facilities as well as the new one in Unterlüss, near Hanover.
NATO's Rutte, German ministers attend ceremony NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil toured the facility with Papperger and other officials on Wednesday.
Pistorius acknowledged that no factory could meet Ukraine's requirements single-handed, but lauded the speed of construction of the new facility and the increased capacity per employee thanks to automation. He said this change of approach would help "supply Ukraine and replenish the stocks of NATO partners."
"The crucial thing is that we were able to open such a plant in a very short time," Pistorius told DW. "In the past, something like this would have taken two to four years. But here it was achieved in 14 months. That's what matters: sending the signal that we can do it faster, we want to do it faster, and production is ramping up."
According to Rheinmetall, the company invested roughly €500 million (roughly $580 million) in this new facility and another that will focus on rocket motors.
The company's site in Unterlüss already includes other smaller areas for artillery production and for the production of Puma tanks, as well as a large firing range.
"With this we're opening a new chapter both in our company's history and that of our site at Unterlüss with regard to artillery production," Papperger said.
Earlier this month, the company reported rising turnover and profits, as well as record order figures — turning orders into deliveries and revenues can take some time in this sector — for the year to date.
Last July, Papperger was even alleged to be the target of a foiled Russian assassination plot, in a sign of the company's importance to Kyiv's military.
Rheinmetall stock up roughly 2,000% since Russia invaded Ukraine Investors have been flocking to Rheinmetall stock in recent years, and particularly since Donald Trump's election to a second term as US president.
Stagnant at or below €100 for decades, it doubled in just a few months after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
It continued to climb steadily as the previous German government pledged a new era in matters of defense spending and as the conflict in eastern Europe dragged on, reaching around €500 in time for last year's US presidential eletions.
Then in the first half of this year it went into overdrive, peaking at almost €1,900 in late May.
Investors seeking the next fashionable stock to inflate have evidently decided that even if Germany and other European NATO members have no idea how they will spend 5% of GDP on defense, or when, pouring taxpayer money into the coffers of companies like Rhinemetall will play a part.
Trump's pressure over defense spending 'not bad for Europe'
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I’m waiting for Krupp to be back in business.
It can only run on sunny days....
Just noting, as its been in my summer reading...
In the mid 1930’s thru 1940’s, Ford provided trucks and cars to the german military - Henry Ford was given the Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938, Dupont was instrumental to provide synthetic rubber, GM produced the “Blitz Truck” and IBM provided the Hollerith Card tech to organize and manage the taking of Jewish property. The BIS, with American leadership, moved around German gold stocks, especially noteworthy of countries gold as they were taken over (France, Belgium...). The BIS held gold confiscated from Jews, in its various forms.
Has anything changed with Nazi’s?
Meanwhile, Germany is in recession. Merz has said the welfare state needs to be reformed for budgetary reasons. The AfD is polling, neck and neck, with the CDU. Busy, busy, busy.
Military spending is nothing but welfare. Imagine a factory making cars or refrigerators. And every single one of them is taken out and pushed into the lake.
Only a low-IQ Euro could see that as a great economic move.
In the mid 1930’s thru 1940’s, Ford provided trucks and cars to the german military - Henry Ford was given the Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938, Dupont was instrumental to provide synthetic rubber, GM produced the “Blitz Truck” and IBM provided the Hollerith Card tech to organize and manage the taking of Jewish property.
Ford sold whole truck manufacturing plants to the Soviet Union. Stalin killed a lot more innocents than Hitler did. Both were very effective mass murderers.
All the eggs in one basket. Cool.
Agreed, just pointing out some points from my readings that I don’t think many are aware of. And thank you, you’ve added more to this mostly unrealized story.
Dig even deeper. While the Americans bombed the German owned truck factories, they avoided bombing the Ford plant in Cologne. It continued to churn out trucks for the German armed forces (at a slowing rate due to supply chain issues) until it was overrun by American troops.
The plant did suffer some minor bomb damage from planes that missed their targets. It resumed production of trucks in May, 1945. The British didn't allow automobile production until 1948.
I thought they were still in business. They remained in business after WWII, despite the fact that then CEO Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach was a defendant at Nuremberg, and charged with crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and profiting from slave labor. He was convicted of profiting from slave labor. During the trial, he had admitted that Krupp had never stopped producing war products despite being banned from doing so by the Treaty of Versailles.
His father Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach had conveniently stepped down in 1945 due to health problems. The son Alfried was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 1951, his sentence was commuted and he was released. At the time of his original sentencing, he had also been ordered to sell off all his investments in the company. During the years he was incarcerated, no one came forth to purchase the company. The same Judge that commuted his sentence, returned all his possessions and the company to him, and he returned as CEO.
Ford Motor Company Sued the US Government for Bombing Its Factories in Nazi Germany
It was British Major Ivan Hirst who got the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg back up and running as a car factory. It had been used as an armament factory by the Germans, and had been mostly destroyed.
Very positive news for America, regardless of the negative reactions on the thread.
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