At least 200,000 grenades
Bundeswehr orders more artillery ammunition
04.06.2024, 07:19 a.m.
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The Bundeswehr’s ammunition stocks are low. The Ministry of Defense wants to change that – and is increasing an order from the arms company Rheinmetall, which is expected to be used primarily for one of the troops’ guns.
According to a media report, the Ministry of Defense wants to buy significantly more artillery ammunition than previously planned. The framework contract already signed with the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall for around 880 million euros is to be increased by at least 200,000 155-millimeter caliber shells, reported “Spiegel” from a letter from the Ministry of Defense to the Bundestag’s budget committee. The shells will be used primarily for the Panzerhaubitze 2000.
The order to the traditional Düsseldorf-based company is intended to refill the Bundeswehr’s largely empty depots, the report continues. The ministry also wants to ensure that Rheinmetall can set up a new production line for the artillery ammunition, which is in short supply worldwide, in Unterlüß, Lower Saxony.
The Rheinmetall production line will make Germany “more independent of global supply chains,” Spiegel quotes from the letter. In addition, the project is in the interest of security, as the delivery of the projectiles produced in Germany is not subject to foreign regulations. This primarily concerns possible ammunition deliveries to support Ukraine in its defense against Russian troops.
In recent months, Ukraine’s supporters have been desperately searching for artillery ammunition around the world. Foreign partners have often refused to sell 155-millimeter ammunition because they did not want to supply it to a country at war for legal or political reasons.
Last year, the Ministry of Defense signed a framework agreement with Rheinmetall for the supply of ammunition worth around 1.3 billion euros. Several hundred thousand artillery shells are to be delivered to the Bundeswehr in the coming years.