A US HIMAR system on exercise. JAM STA ROSA / AFP
The arms company is in discussion with the American Lockheed Martin to start production of the multiple rocket launcher on German soil.
The war in Ukraine seems to inspire Rheinmetall. In an interview given to Reuters on January 29, the CEO of the German industrialist, Armin Papperger, announced that he was in talks with Lockheed Martin to produce M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System). The American artillery system, very effective in the Ukrainian conflict, could thus be built directly in Germany.
Rheinmetall’s goal is to “conclude an agreementat the Munich Security Conference, scheduled for February 17. “We have the technology for the production of the warheads as well as the rocket engines. And we have the trucks to mount the launchers on“Said Armin Papperger, counting on investments of several hundred million euros.
SEE ALSO – War in Ukraine: what is the German army worth?
“Torpedo the Franco-German agreements»
For several months, Rheinmetall has been very enterprising on the arms market. In mid-January, the foundation stone for an ammunition factory in Varpalota, Hungary, was laid. It will allow the German manufacturer to produce 30 mm caliber ammunition for its Lynx armored vehicle. In November, the company announced the acquisition of the Spanish ammunition manufacturer Expal Systems. “Rheinmetall hopes to end up being the last major European industrialist», Comments Stéphane Audrand, consultant in international risks, with the Figaro.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: why the United States will not deliver its Abrams tanks for several months
The industrial “positions itself very aggressively to torpedo the Franco-German agreementsanalyzes the expert. It maintains the hope of quickly satisfying immediate needs, which will position them as a leader for future projects, or simply kill them in the bud“. Producing HIMARS will allow it to replenish stocks of European countries that have supplied multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine, including the UK and France.
Rheinmetall has a great deal of autonomy vis-à-vis German political power. By wanting to produce HIMARS itself, it also undermines Franco-German thinking around a future development of “very long range lights“. And France will still suffer from this positioning of its neighbor. “We’re sitting on the side of the roadregrets Stéphane Audrand. French industrialists do not have the critical mass and the capital to get started, and are too dependent on public procurement“.