Germany now has more production capacity for conventional ammunition than the United States, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said during an event organized by the Hamburg Business Journalists\u2019 Club over the weekend.<\/p>\n
According to Papperger, Rheinmetall has increased its production<\/a> capacities for medium-calibre ammunition from around 800,000 to more than four million rounds annually, artillery ammunition from 70,000 to 1.1 million rounds, and military truck production from 600 to 4,500 units.<\/p>\n The head of the D\u00fcsseldorf-based defence giant also told the audience that Rheinmetall is expected to grow by around 40 per cent in 2026, with turnover projected at \u20ac14\u201315 billion. Papperger added that he does not expect the \u2018sharp rise in sales and orders\u2019 to slow down before 2034\u20132040.<\/p>\n Rapid European Industrial Expansion<\/p>\n Following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine<\/a> in 2022, both Europe and the United States launched a rapid expansion of ammunition production capacities, particularly regarding NATO-standard 155mm artillery shells. However, while the US initially remained the dominant producer, Europe\u2014led primarily by Germany\u2019s Rheinmetall\u2014began closing the gap at remarkable speed.<\/p>\n Rheinmetall<\/a> alone increased its artillery shell production from roughly 70,000 rounds annually in 2022 to around 1.1 million, as Papperger highlighted. By comparison, the entire US defence industry produced around 600,000 shells in 2024<\/a>, although Washington also announced plans to further scale production in the coming years.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the company launched an aggressive European expansion, establishing new facilities in Hungary, Romania, and Lithuania, acquiring the Spanish defence manufacturer Expal Munitions, and upgrading its flagship Unterl\u00fc\u00df factory in Germany, which is expected to become the largest ammunition plant on the continent. Rheinmetall is also preparing additional facilities in Latvia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n A key strategic element of this expansion is the V\u00e1rpalota ammunition complex in Hungary, a joint investment between Rheinmetall and the Hungarian state-owned N7 Holding under the Zr\u00ednyi 2026 military modernization programme launched by the outgoing Orb\u00e1n government a decade ago.<\/p>\n The facility is designed not only to supply the Hungarian Armed Forces, but also to become an integrated part of NATO\u2019s broader ammunition-industrial network. In addition to already producing 30mm ammunition<\/a> for the KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicle manufactured in Hungary, the plant is expected to begin producing 155mm artillery shells by early 2026, while 120mm tank ammunition for Leopard 2 tanks and the Panther KF51 platform is also planned for the future. Rheinmetall has further stated that the site will conduct development and acceptance testing for new ammunition types.<\/p>\n Germany Leads European Defence Boom<\/p>\n Rheinmetall\u2019s expansion fits into a broader push for German military modernization, which accelerated dramatically after 2022. Berlin approved a \u20ac100 billion special defence fund<\/a> for the Bundeswehr, launched major procurement programmes, expanded ammunition stockpiles, and increased long-term defence spending.<\/p>\n Over the past years, Germany has also become one of Ukraine\u2019s largest military supporters, while accelerating investments in air defence, logistics, armour, and artillery systems, particularly after Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025.<\/p>\n While gradually reducing<\/a> American financial, military, and technical support for Ukraine, Trump repeatedly criticized European NATO allies for relying excessively on Washington\u2019s military umbrella while underspending on their own defence capabilities. NATO leaders subsequently agreed to raise the alliance\u2019s defence spending target to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035<\/a>, forcing European countries to rapidly expand their still comparatively underdeveloped military-industrial base.<\/p>\n Although Germany appears increasingly determined to assume a leading role<\/a>, several other European states have also emerged as major contributors to the continent\u2019s accelerating rearmament drive. Poland became NATO\u2019s highest defence spender relative to GDP, allocating around 4.7 per cent in 2026 while pursuing procurement programmes involving approximately 1,000 K2 and Abrams tanks, HIMARS systems, F-35 fighter jets, and large-scale ammunition production. France increased its 2026 defence budget to approximately \u20ac68 billion, while the United Kingdom significantly expanded manufacturing through companies such as BAE Systems.<\/p>\n Overall, total European defence spending surpassed \u20ac400 billion in 2026, with the trend expected to intensify even further over the next one to two years. At $954 billion, US military spending still remains by far the largest in the world; however, according to recently published SIPRI data<\/a>, it was 7.5 per cent lower in 2025 than in 2024. <\/p>\n Related articles:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Germany now has more production capacity for conventional ammunition than the United States, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8081,8565,479,151,5,2232,8566,6482,478,7561,6944,770,8567,484],"class_list":{"0":"post-8809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-ammunition","9":"tag-defence-spending","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-hungary","14":"tag-military-industrial-complex","15":"tag-military-modernization","16":"tag-nato","17":"tag-production","18":"tag-rearmament","19":"tag-rheinmetall","20":"tag-sipri","21":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}