Rheinmetall to Produce Over 1M Artillery Shells by 2027

German defense giant Rheinmetall plans to produce more than a million artillery shells annually by 2027.

CEO of Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, stated this in his interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

According to him, by the end of 2024, the company should produce 700,000 artillery shells. New production facilities in Germany, Ukraine, and Lithuania are expected to help the company reach the one million-unit mark.

Papperger added that almost all the ammunition produced by Rheinmetall is now shipped to Ukraine.

Militarnyi previously reported that Rheinmetall plans to set up at least four weapons manufacturing factories in Ukraine.

The company said the factories in Ukraine would be for producing shells, military vehicles, gunpowder, and anti-aircraft weapons.

It is reported that the first stone will soon be laid for the construction of the vault in Ukraine, and it will be modeled on an ammunition factory that Rheinmetall is building in Germany.

Rheinmetall reported record sales of €7.2 billion last year, and is aiming to top €10 billion in 2024.

Rheinmetall ammunition plant in Ukraine

Militarnyi reported on the company’s plans to open a new plant to produce artillery ammunition in Ukraine on February 17, 2024.

The document on cooperation was signed in the presence of Oleksandr Kamyshyn, Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, and Oleksii Makeiev, Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

It is planned that the new ammunition plant will produce a six-figure number of 155-mm artillery shells per year. The joint venture will also produce metal charges.

The German concern Rheinmetall will own 51% of the shares in the joint plant, and the Ukrainian company will own 49%.

In early February, the German concern Rheinmetall announced that it intends to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with medium and large caliber ammunition, in particular, 20-mm for the Marder IFV, 40-mm, and 105-mm for the Leopard 1, and 120-mm for the Leopard 2 tanks.