(Berlin) The German military has placed a record order worth more than 8.5 billion euros (about 12.5 billion Canadian dollars) with Rheinmetall Group to supply itself with artillery ammunition to replenish its stocks and support the Ukrainian army, the industrial group announced on Thursday.
This order, which concerns 155 mm artillery ammunition, the standard NATO caliber, is the “largest in recent history” of the Düsseldorf (west) company, specifies a press release from the latter .
The purpose of the contract will be to “replenish the stocks held by the Bundeswehr and its allies, and to provide support to Ukraine in its defense campaign,” he detailed.
Deliveries will begin in 2025.
For several months, Ukrainian forces have been faced with a glaring lack of ammunition to repel the better-equipped Russian troops. European states are struggling to provide what Kyiv needs, as the military industry within the EU is not yet adapted to high-intensity warfare.
The German army’s stocks are at their lowest, after years of underinvestment, and the army’s ammunition needs are estimated at around 40 billion euros by Rheinmetall.
To compensate for these shortcomings, Rheinmetall wants to produce, at all of its sites in Europe, up to 700,000 artillery shells per year in 2025, compared to 400 to 500,000 this year. Before the Russian war in Ukraine, it produced only 70,000.
As the remilitarization of Europe made its business flourish, Rheinmetall entered the exclusive club of 40 companies on the Dax, the flagship index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, last year. A first for an arms company across the Rhine.
