Production starts in 2025
Rheinmetall builds factory for F-35 production in NRW
7/4/2023 3:22 p.m
The Air Force needs to modernize its fleet and is relying on US F-35 fighter jets to do so. Rheinmetall takes over the manufacture of the hull and wants to build a factory in Weeze in North Rhine-Westphalia specifically for this purpose. Locations in Lower Saxony and Brandenburg are left empty-handed.
For its participation in the construction of the F-35 fighter jet, the armaments group Rheinmetall wants to build a factory at Weeze Airport in western North Rhine-Westphalia. The Düsseldorf-based company announced a corresponding location decision in the early afternoon. Rheinmetall is to produce fuselage parts for at least 400 F-35A Lightning II aircraft.
Germany had ordered 35 such fighter jets for its air force to replace the aging Tornado. According to Rheinmetall, other customers are “friendly nations” of Germany. The US companies Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are responsible for other parts of the jet. One is proud of the “real know-how transfer to Germany,” said Rheinmetall boss Armin Papperger. Production is expected to start in 2025. The plant is being built in an industrial area right next to the actual airport site.
“Milestone in the German F-35 program”
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst was satisfied with the arms company’s decision. “The location decision by Rheinmetall, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman confirms the attractiveness of North Rhine-Westphalia as a location for investments and innovations,” said the CDU politician to the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. “Our soldiers must have the best equipment available. Rheinmetall will also make a decisive contribution to this with its new factory in Weeze,” said Wüst.
Lower Saxony and Brandenburg had also had hopes of being awarded the contract when looking for a location, but are now left out. Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke made a positive comment in the “Märkische Allgemeine” in mid-June about the possible settlement of high-tech jobs in Brandenburg, and Lower Saxony would also have liked to have been awarded the contract. According to the information, the Rheinmetall factory will be almost 60,000 square meters in size, and a good 400 employees will work there.
Lockheed Martin manager Mike Shoemaker rated the speedy choice of location for the assembly line as an “important milestone in the German F-35 program”. Manufacturing will help “meet growing global demand and keep the F-35 one step ahead of future threats in the 21st century.”