UNTERLUESS, Germany (Reuters) -Rheinmetall’s new ammunition plant in northern Germany will be the largest in Europe at full capacity, said CEO Armin Papperger at its opening on Wednesday, and similar factories could be built at a comparable pace in other NATO countries.
Those plants could contribute to a “pan-European defence ecosystem”, said Papperger at the event attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil.
Papperger said countries like Lithuania and Britain, where concrete projects already exist, immediately came to mind.
He also mentioned Romania, Latvia and Ukraine, which “must be even more decisively put in the position to produce urgently needed protective and defence equipment in their own country”.
The new plant, whose groundbreaking was in February 2024, boasts a total investment volume of 500 million euros ($585.35 million).
It is expected to produce around 25,000 rounds of ammunition this year, with annual capacity rising to 350,000 rounds by 2027.
Rheinmetall is also building a factory for rocket motors and possibly warheads at the site.
($1 = 0.8542 euros)
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Rachel More)
