Rheinmetall is making further progress towards the construction of a munitions factory in Lithuania.
The group signed a partnership agreement under which the Düsseldorf-based company will hold a 51 percent majority stake in Rheinmetall Defence Lietuva, which will build the new plant, as Rheinmetall announced on Friday in response to an inquiry. The remaining shares will be held by two Lithuanian companies, with the lion’s share going to the energy group EPSO-G. “With the signed agreement with our Lithuanian partners, we have completed another very important stage and will now plan the construction of the new factory together and prepare it for operation,” explained Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger.
The plant is to be built near the Lithuanian town of Baisogala and is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2026. It will then be capable of producing tens of thousands of 155-mm artillery rounds annually. More than €180 million will be invested in the construction in Lithuania. The plant is expected to create around 150 new jobs.
Rheinmetall and the government in Vilnius signed a declaration of intent for the construction of the munitions factory in April. The plans have now been finalized. The Baltic NATO and EU country wants to become more independent in the procurement of ammunition as a result. Rheinmetall already operates a tank maintenance center in Lithuania together with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.
The Baltic states have increasingly become the focus of security policy since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Germany wants to permanently station a brigade of the Bundeswehr in Lithuania.
(Report by Matthias Inverardi, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)