Rheinmetall builds new ammunition production in Germany

Die Welt ^ | 12/15/2022

[Zhang Fei]

Switzerland's veto on the delivery of anti-aircraft ammunition to Ukraine has raised security policy issues and caused irritation in Berlin. A German armaments company reacts - and builds up new capacities.

Rheinmetall is setting up an extensive new ammunition production facility in Germany with the aim of supplying the Bundeswehr independently. The systems for so-called medium-caliber ammunition should be ready in January, the armaments company confirmed on request. Previously, there had been political anger in Berlin over the Swiss veto on ammunition deliveries from Germany to Ukraine. The export of old stocks of the weapon material needed for the anti-aircraft gun tank Gepard would have required the approval of the Swiss government, which, however, refused, citing its own neutrality.

Rheinmetall also pointed to significant pent-up demand for ammunition in Germany and gaps created by support from Ukraine. They are to be filled in accordance with NATO specifications. A spokesman for the armaments company told the German Press Agency in Berlin that the focus of the new demand situation is on efforts to "establish the ammunition supply in Germany again in principle independently of foreign production facilities".

It was decided to build a new production facility for calibers from 20 to 35 millimeters in Germany. Production is scheduled to start in June 2023.

In addition, Rheinmetall will be able to deliver the first batch of Gepard ammunition as early as July, the spokesman said. According to reports, it is up to 300,000 shots for Ukraine if the federal government now issues a corresponding order. Germany gave the Gepard to Ukraine, but was initially only able to add a small amount of ammunition.

The Gepard tanks, which were decommissioned by the Bundeswehr and handed over to the Ukraine, are equipped with a 35mm twin cannon from the Swiss armaments manufacturer Oerlikon.

[Zhang Fei]

Ukraine ping

30 units of the Gepard, Germany’s Sergeant York SHORAD equivalent, was handed over to Ukraine in September 2022. That system has been the linchpin of Ukrainian efforts to shoot down the low and slow, but cheap Iranian drones the Russians have been launching against Ukrainian infrastructure.

Switzerland has legal restrictions on supplying end users in wartime. As a result, Rheinmetall, whose Swiss-based Oerlikon subsidiary makes Gepard ammunition, was unable to provide the ordnance required to supplement the 30,000 rounds included in the original shipment to Ukraine. By creating a production line for Oerlikon ammunition in Germany, Rheinmetall has now sidestepped Swiss laws against arms exports in wartime.

[dforest]

They can’t provide affordable heat and food, but they sure as hell want to make war weapons.

[dennisw]

Good news. The German anti-aircraft gun tank Gepard is very good at taking down drones in Ukraine. But it needs more ammunition to be manufactured.

[dennisw]

“They can’t provide affordable heat and food....”

Today the natural gas price in Europe is about the same as it was in December 2021. Before Putin’ invasion.

[BenLurkin]

There’s a fortune to be made from the blood of Ukrainian soldiers.

[packagingguy]

It’s been warmer in Europe this winter. There have been days when it’s colder deep in Dixie than in Moscow.

[CarolinaReaganFan]

globalists find their profits....get woke, go broke!
.

things must be very very bad for Z-ski given the recent amount of Zeeper propaganda!
things are bad for Z again today.
Wagner has captured the Sil railway station along with adjacent residential area.
Fighting continues at Salt Mine #7.
The Soledar mop up may take a few more days.
.
If the attack on Krasna Gora captures high ground, m-03 road which brings supplies from Slavansk would be within artillery range..bakmut northwest encirclement advancing...
.
Wagner advancing around Klesheevaka..High ground there would bring the supply road from Constantinovka in artillery range..Bakmut southwest encirclement advancing.
.
I wouldn’t want to be in Bakmut.Biden don’t care about the last Ukrainian!

today’s update from Mil summary channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yPk1LJLEbU

[ought-six]

“They can’t provide affordable heat and food, but they sure as hell want to make war weapons.”

Heat and food are unnecessary if someone invades your country and kills you before you can kill them.

[alternatives?]

“There’s a fortune to be made from the blood of Ukrainian soldiers.”

If the Ukrainian and Russian soldiers kill each other, Germany can freely march to Moscow.

[Paal Gulli]

The 120mm smooth bore main gun on the M1 Abrams tank is a Rheinmetall manufactured under license in the US.

Good stuff, Maynard!

[sauropod]

Where in FRG?

[Zhang Fei]

Ukraine ping

BenLurkin: [There’s a fortune to be made from the blood of Ukrainian soldiers.]

---

This is more or less a lefty/Chinese/Russian trope designed to discourage defense spending in the democracies, clearing the way for the monarchs in egalitarian drag of their choice to win on the battlefield. The defense sector is a terrible business to be in, mainly because of a small number of buyers with huge bargaining power such that a single order shortfall can drive a given company out of business or into the arms of an unwanted suitor. Add on to that the relentless political pressure to cut defense and it’s clear why margins are half the average of all industries, and revenue growth is mainly through mergers. That is why so many of the iconic names that created the war-winning equipment of WWII are either defunct or folded into big defense conglomerates.

https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/margin.html

The reality is that defense spending is scrutinized in a way that civilian spending is not, and civilian spending is 40x or more the size of military spending on new procurement. Given the way defense spending is inspected in microscopic detail, civilians spending is where the waste and fraud is concentrated.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Zhang Fei.

[buwaya]

True. The US overspending problem is entirely domestic civilian programs, which have been bloated by the loss of all budget control by reconciliation bills since 2009, and then put on hyperdrive by emergency spending since 2020.

[buwaya]

Or they have gone way too far in beating swords into ploughshares over the last 30 years, and are only now returning to sanity.

This was, you may recall, why Trump was on the Euros case just four years ago. Are you saying Merkel and Schwab and co. were right, and Trump was wrong? Do you despise Trump? Are you a Democrat?

[devere]

In 2023 Germany would lose a war to Poland; forget about Russia!

[oldguy1776]

Rheinmetall built the MG34 and the MG 42 General Purpose machine guns used in WW2. Our M60 was patterned off of that. It featured a changeable barrel and the MG42 fired up to 1200 rounds per minute.

My Father said that when you heard an MG42 go off you learned to duck real quick. Same thing with the MP40 sub machine gun.
I have shot both weapons and they were something else. There are very few left in existence in this country and they are all registered with the ATF and are not cheap to buy...if any owner even wants to sell one. As an example a US M1A1 Thompson in 45ACP will sell for around $33,000.

All of these are legal, depending on your state, but you definitely need some spare change to get one...:)

[familyop]

"The reality is that defense spending is scrutinized in a way that civilian spending is not, and civilian spending is 40x or more the size of military spending on new procurement. Given the way defense spending is inspected in microscopic detail, civilians spending is where the waste and fraud is concentrated."

That's true. A recent headline said that a third of Russia's government spending is on its military forces.

People claiming to be pacifists disseminate propaganda for our enemies. One of the glaring discrepancies is that they don't go to invading communists or fascists to tell them to withdraw and disarm. I suspect psychopathy or bully mentalities. They want our country to be ruled and ruined by those enemies, or they simply want to see nicer people suffering.

[rxh4n1]

Wagner advancing around Klesheevaka..High ground there would bring the supply road from Constantinovka in artillery range..Bakmut southwest encirclement advancing.

Snore. I suppose we got worthless reports like this from the Western Front in WWI.