United States, Europe and Middle East practically run out of ammunition for air defense systems - Rheinmetall head

The CEO of the German defense concern Rheinmetall Armin Papperger said that the United States of America, as well as the countries of Europe and the Middle East, have practically completely run out of ammunition for air defense systems.

Papperger said this in an interview with the American TV channel CNBC on Thursday, March 19.

"I think that at the moment the warehouses of both the Europeans and the Americans and the countries of the Middle East are empty or almost empty," Papperger said.

He suggested that if the war against Iran lasts another month, the United States and its allies will have practically no anti-aircraft missiles left.

Papperger believes that this situation is caused by the appearance of unmanned aerial vehicles on the battlefield. They are relatively cheap and can be produced in large quantities. To counter them, they have to use expensive and complex anti-aircraft missiles.

The head of Rheinmetall added that the emergence of drones has changed the nature of combat operations, but not radically, since the key military approach continues to be the use of a complex of various weapons. As an example, he cited the war of the aggressor country ща russia against Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on March 18, Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty said that NATO is working on a joint mechanism for supplying ammunition and missiles for air defense, including for the needs of Ukraine.

Recall, on March 9, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation, partners have transferred about 600 missiles for MIM-104 Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.

And on March 6, European Union Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius said that Ukraine spent more missiles for Patriot systems in four months than the United States was able to produce in 2025.

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