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UKRAINE

German arms maker struggles to meet demand as Ukraine war rages

In a factory in a tranquil German village, 120 mm tank shells with black-painted tips, packed into wooden crates, sit on pallets waiting to be delivered to Ukraine.

Rheinmetall Marder
A technician of German armaments company and automotive supplier Rheinmetall inspects an armored infantry fighting vehicle Marder. Photo: Axel Heimken / AFP

Leading arms manufacturer Rheinmetall is racing to meet demand for weapons and ammunition to supply Kyiv, as well as Germany and  other NATO countries which are bolstering their defences after draining stockpiles.

In March, as intense fighting continued around Bakhmut, NATO’s chief said “we need to ramp up production” warning Ukraine’s usage is outstripping allies’ production capacity. 

“We are pulling out all the stops when it comes to production of ammunition for tanks,” said Harald Weismüller, head of the factory in Unterlüß, Lower Saxony.

Germany has long been a major arms maker and exporter, but in a country still haunted by guilt over Nazi atrocities in World War II, its manufacturers have kept a relatively low profile.

But as Russia’s war in Ukraine spurs demand, business is booming for Rheinmetall, which has seen orders surge and in March joined Frankfurt’s blue-chip DAX stock index.

The European Union has agreed on a plan to spend €2 billion on artillery shells for Ukraine to try to get a million rounds of artillery ammunition to the country over twelve months.

Kyiv had told the EU it needed 350,000 shells a month to support troops, saying its forces were having to ration firepower as the conflict turned into a grinding war of attrition.

READ ALSO: Germany unveils 2.7 bn euro weapons package for Ukraine

Among the wide array of armaments produced at Rheinmetall’s major Unterlüß plant are shells for Leopard 2 battle tanks, which can travel at
1,700 metres (5,580 feet) per second and pierce the armour of a Russian tank.

Between 400 and 500 shells can be produced in an eight-hour shift, and the rate could be increased, said Weismüller.

After huge pressure, Berlin agreed in January that German-made Leopards — for which Rheinmetall makes parts, and which are developed by manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann — could be sent to Ukraine. The first tanks were delivered in late March. 

New production lines

From 60,000 a year before the war, Rheinmetall has ramped up production to 240,000 of the tank shells annually.

The firm is Europe’s biggest manufacturer of ammunition for tanks and artillery, ahead of Norway’s Nammo and France’s Nexter.

This position will be cemented with the acquisition of Spain’s Expal, a leading manufacturer of 120 mm shells.

Such is the boom in demand that the company is sitting on a backlog of orders worth €18.5 billion — three times its sales in 2022.

As well as supplying Ukraine, Germany’s decision to beef up its armed forces in the wake of the Ukraine war is helping to drive the surge.

READ ALSO: German military has ‘too little of everything’

Rheinmetall Marder

A technician of German armaments company and automotive supplier Rheinmetall inspects an armored infantry fighting vehicle Marder at the Rheinmetall facility in Unterlüß. Photo: Axel Heimken / AFP

Rheinmetall estimates that Europe’s biggest economy will need to spend around €40 billion to replenish its stocks of armaments.

At Unterlüß, new machines are being installed and whole new production lines set up.

Equipment to make 35 mm shells fired by Gepard anti-aircraft tanks should begin production in less than six weeks, Weissmüller said, with up to 500,000 to be produced a year.

The shells are also produced in Switzerland but authorities in the traditionally neutral country have refused to allow their export to conflict zones.

The factory has also ramped up production of 155 mm shells for self-propelled howitzers, which can hit targets 25 kilometres away.

Elsewhere in the plant, old armoured vehicles, with patches of rust, have been completely dismantled, as workers prepare to refurbish them to be deployed once again on the battlefield.

This includes the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, dozens of which have already been sent to Ukraine.

Booming demand means the 2,400 staff at the site are working flat out, as the sound of shots ring out from Leopard 2 cannons being tested on an adjacent firing range, the largest in Europe.

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UKRAINE

Scholz and Macron meet in Berlin to mend Ukraine rift

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was set to receive French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin on Friday after tensions between the leaders blew out into the open over differences on how to support Ukraine.

Scholz and Macron meet in Berlin to mend Ukraine rift

After a clear-the-air meeting in the chancellery, the pair will be joined by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for urgent consultations on further European military backing for Kyiv.

Ukraine has faced a series of battlefield setbacks in repelling Russian troops, as its forces have faced critical shortages of ammunition and aid from Western allies has stuttered.

A massive US aid package of $60 billion (55 billion euros) remains blocked in Congress by right-wing Republicans, and President Joe Biden has acknowledged that $300 million of stopgap support announced Tuesday was “not nearly enough”.

It falls to Paris, Berlin and Warsaw “to mobilise all of Europe” to provide Ukraine with fresh aid, Tusk said.

But simmering disagreements between Macron and Scholz threatened to undermine cooperation between the allies.

Debates between France and Germany “may have culminated in what we have seen in the last weeks, but there have been difficulties for quite a long time now”, said Nico Lange, an analyst for the Munich Security Conference (MSC).

‘Calculated effort’

The summit of the so-called Weimar Triangle of European powers in Berlin was a “good sign that finally… the errors are corrected to some extent”, Lange said.

Germany’s European partners have been frustrated by Scholz’s refusal to provide its long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, despite urgent calls from Kyiv.

OPINION: Germany’s timid strategy risks both Ukraine’s defeat and more war in Europe

The chancellor, on the other hand, reacted angrily to Macron’s refusal to rule out sending troops to Ukraine and his pointed comments urging allies not to be “cowards”.

With his comments, the French president sought “to restore a certain level of strategic ambiguity” to complicate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision-making, said Jacob Ross from the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).

As well as provoking a debate on where to draw the line on help for Ukraine, the remarks may also have been a “calculated effort” to rally Eastern European allies, Ross said.

But the pressure from Macron has also shone a spotlight on glaring differences with Scholz.

German soldiers participating in the conflict is “a limit that I, as chancellor, do not want to cross,” he told parliament on Wednesday.

This applied not just to the deployment of army personnel in Ukraine but also to any potential operational planning in Germany, he said in outlining his reasons for refusing to supply Taurus missiles.

At no point should German soldiers help select “where will be targeted… where will be hit”, Scholz said, a service he has suggested French officials provide to Ukraine for the long-range Scalp missiles supplied by Paris.

Macron remained combative late Thursday when he told French television a Russian victory in Ukraine “would reduce Europe’s credibility to zero”, insisting that the continent’s security was “at stake”.

Warning allies against imposing limits on assistance, he added: “If the situation should deteriorate, we would be ready to make sure that Russia never wins this war.”

And he said anybody advocating “limits” on aid to Ukraine “chooses defeat”.

READ ALSO: France ‘ready’ to ensure Russia ‘never’ wins Ukraine war

‘Different opinions’

Despite their differences, Scholz said he and Macron had a “very good personal relationship” as shown by their frequent consultations.

“The strength of the cooperation comes particularly from the fact that we do this even when both countries have different opinions on individual issues,” Scholz said.

Friday’s meeting is of “great importance” for allies to “organise as much support as possible for Ukraine”, said Scholz, who spoke Thursday with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone and underlined Germany’s “unbroken solidarity” with Kyiv.

Germany has been Ukraine’s single largest backer after the United States, but European efforts to mobilise support have faced challenges.

The EU is pushing to bolster weapons and ammunition production by its defence industry, but with the war in its third year, it is still struggling to ramp up output.

Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies, and the presence of Tusk, a seasoned politician who served as European Council president, would help “moderate differences” in French-German relations, Lange said.

On Ukraine, it was in the overarching interest of both to “move closer together,” he said.

By Sebastien ASH

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