The first plant of the defense concern Rheinmetall is already operating in Ukraine, and the second is on the way, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told TSN.
“The first plant is already in operation. The Ukrainian defense industry is our partner. We now have a production facility and a service facility,” Papperger said, adding that the first Lynx advanced infantry fighting vehicle in Ukraine will be launched at the end of the year.
“At the moment we are servicing infantry fighting vehicles, but also main battle tanks. So this is a very productive joint venture,” said the Rheinmetall director. He added that the company owns 51% of the shares in this enterprise.
Papperger noted that Rheinmetall is on the way to building a powder plant and an ammunition plant in Ukraine. “We also want to establish production of air defense systems so that you can defend yourselves,” he said.
The German company Rheinmetall has announced plans to supply weapons and equipment to Ukraine for 2024-2025. The planned supplies include ammunition, tanks, armored personnel carriers, air defense systems and other equipment, the company’s press service reports.
“Rheinmetall is the only defense contractor capable of supplying the Ukrainian military with a large number of new medium and large caliber ammunition, including 20-mm for the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, 40-mm ammunition, as well as 105-mm for the Leopard 1 tank and 120-mm tank ammunition for the Leopard 2,” the statement said.
The company recalled that by the end of 2023, 40,000 out of 300,000 rounds of 35-mm ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank had also been manufactured and delivered.
“Moreover, Rheinmetall is an important strategic partner of Ukraine in the supply of 155-mm artillery ammunition: several tens of thousands of shells have already been delivered, and tens of thousands more will be delivered in 2024. In December 2023, the German government also placed an order with Rheinmetall for the supply of several tens of thousands of ammunition in 2025,” the statement said.
In addition to Germany, another NATO member state has commissioned Rheinmetall to supply Ukraine with a large quantity of 155 ammunition rounds. The shells will be produced by the Spanish manufacturer Rheinmetall Expal Munitions and are to be delivered in 2025.
In addition, in 2024, it is planned to supply “in the double-digit range” of Marder armored personnel carriers, 24 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks, as well as 5 armored evacuation vehicles and two Leopard 1 tanks for training. Another 14 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks will be delivered on behalf of the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark.
Deliveries of Skynex air defense systems are also expected to continue.
In addition, a second rescue station (NATO Role 1 standard) and SurveilSPIRE drone defense systems are planned to be delivered.
“In addition to short-term deliveries of military equipment, in the long term Ukraine will need assistance in rebuilding its defense industry and reorienting production to Western standards. Therefore, in October 2023, Rheinmetall established a joint venture with the Ukrainian state-owned company Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC (formerly Ukroboronprom) in Kyiv – Rheinmetall Ukrainian Defense Industry LLC, the company added.
Currently, maintenance and repair work is already underway on military vehicles; in the second phase, Ukraine will also produce armored vehicles, such as Fuchs/Fox armored personnel carriers, Lynx infantry fighting vehicles and Panther main battle tanks.
“The goal is to turn Ukraine into an effective partner, rebuild its once powerful defense sector and ensure its strategic autonomy,” the statement emphasizes.
air defense systems, LEOPARD TANKS, RHEINMETALL, shells, Skynex
German arms maker Rheinmetall AG wants to build its first armored vehicles in Ukraine next year, the concern’s chief executive officer Armin Papperger said, Reuters reports.
According to Papperger, he expects an agreement with Ukraine to build Fuchs armored transport vehicles, named after the German word for fox, and Lynx infantry fighting vehicles to be signed by early next year.
“After signing the contract, we want to finish the first Fuchs within six to seven months, and the first Lynx within 12 to 13 months,” he said.
It is noted that in October, Ukraine announced the creation of a joint defense venture with Rheinmetall AG to help in the local production of some key types of equipment, as well as to maintain and repair Western weapons sent to Kyiv against a full-scale Russian invasion.
According to Reuters, Ukrainian officials hope that cooperation with Western arms manufacturers will help revive the domestic arms industry, which suffered from inefficiency and lack of transparency for years before Russia’s invasion.
German concern Rheinmetall has provided the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a modern mobile field hospital. It meets NATO Role 2 medical support standards, the concern’s press service reported.
The mobile field hospital is designed for 32 beds, eight of them are for intensive care, and also has an operating room, laboratory and medical equipment – X-ray and computer tomography. Its production cost almost 9 million euros.
“Rheinmetall has supplied Ukraine with a mobile field hospital. Just in September 2022, the German Ministry of Defense awarded a contract to the group’s subsidiary Rheinmetall Mobile Systeme GmbH, or RMS, for the hospital and related training support,” the press service said in a statement
The hospital has independent generating capacity and its own water supply, including therapeutic decontamination. At the same time, a German company has taken over the responsibilities of equipment support and staff training. In addition to the field hospital itself, Rheinmetall has also provided Ukraine with the necessary transportation facilities.
According to the company, Rheinmetall and RMS plan to supply Ukraine with two more highly mobile medical support facilities in late 2023-early 2024.
It is noted that the state-of-the-art field hospital is a fully self-sufficient medical support facility. It includes not only medical modules in expandable containers and tents, but also independent generating capacity and medical gas production equipment. The hospital also has its own water supply, including therapeutic decontamination, as well as billets with sanitary modules for patients and staff. The high quality of the system is evident in the details. For example, the water supply is heated and the sensitive CT scanner in the container is equipped with a spring and an elaborate transportation system, so it can be safely transported by land, sea or air and is ready for use on arrival. Designed for maximum operational mobility, all systems and equipment in the hospital are reusable.
On behalf of the government, the German defense concern Rheinmetall AG will supply Ukraine with another 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, the company’s press service reports.
“The German government has instructed Rheinmetall to supply 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. The order was placed in August 2023 and is valued at a double-digit amount. Rheinmetall is continuing to work on the existing vehicles in full swing so that a new batch of Marder vehicles can be delivered in accordance with the contract starting in 2023,” the company said in a statement on its website.
It is noted that the total number of Marder infantry fighting vehicles that Rheinmetall will supply to Ukraine will reach 80.
The company reminds that the first 20 infantry fighting vehicles ordered by the German government for Ukraine were launched on March 21, 2023. In June 2023, another 20 BMPs were ordered and recently delivered.
“The delivered infantry fighting vehicles are overhauled Marder 1A3s, which Rheinmetall has previously adopted for the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces – IF-U). Already in the spring of 2022, Rheinmetall began repairing infantry fighting vehicles at its own expense to make them ready for immediate deployment,” the statement said.
The Marder infantry fighting vehicles are currently being built at Rheinmetall’s plants in Unterluss and Kassel. Up to ten of these vehicles can be delivered per month.
It is noted that this combat vehicle is one of the most proven weapons systems of its kind in the world.
Germany’s largest manufacturer of military equipment, Rheinmetall, intends to open production of armored vehicles in Ukraine, in particular Fuchs armored personnel carriers, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in an interview with Bild.
“We will start with the maintenance and repair of emergency vehicles and want to produce armored vehicles such as Fuchs armored transport vehicles as soon as possible,” Papperger said.
According to him, Ukraine is also interested in combat tanks of modern modifications.
“Ukraine is also interested in a modern Panther battle tank and Lynx infantry fighting vehicle. However, the first step is to provide for the country’s urgent needs in its defensive struggle,” Papperger noted.
