German defense concern Rheinmetall has opened Europe's largest 155mm artillery shell production facility. Once fully operational, the plant will produce 350,000 shells annually.
Bloomberg reported this, citing a company statement.
The new Rheinmetall plant was built near the town of Unterluess in Lower Saxony. The official opening ceremony of the plant took place yesterday, August 27.
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said during the event that the company could build similar facilities in other NATO countries.
"When it comes down to it, Germany can be fast. Our country takes on responsibility as part of a Europe that has to take charge of its own security more than ever," Papperger said.
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also attended the event near Hanover in northern Germany.
The latter emphasized that such enterprises are absolutely necessary for the security of the alliance, for helping Ukraine, and for deterring any other aggression in the future.
According to Bloomberg, the foundation of the plant in Unterluess was laid in early 2024. The enterprise began trial operation in the second quarter of this year and will have a capacity of up to 350,000 shells per year when it begins to fully operate in 2027. Next year, Rheinmetall is going to start producing rocket artillery at this plant.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on August 12, the British edition of the Financial Times wrote that after the start of the full-scale invasion of the aggressor country russia into Ukraine, the pace of expansion of the area of European defense enterprises has tripled.
As a reminder, at the end of June this year it became known that the Polish defense concern Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa will increase the production of artillery shells and tank ammunition fivefold by 2028.
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