NATO complains about empty arms depots: "We need new armaments factories"

Because Russia's war in Ukraine is steadily depleting NATO's stocks of weapons and ammunition, leading figures in the Alliance, the EU and the German governing parties are calling for the armaments industry to be significantly strengthened.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told FAS that "production must be ramped up to replenish Allied stocks and to ensure we can continue to supply Ukraine for a long time".

Ralph Bollman

Correspondent for economic policy and deputy head of business and “Money & More” for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper in Berlin.

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Konrad Schuller

Political correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper in Berlin.

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A parallel to the Second World War is drawn at NATO headquarters.

America entered the war with fewer than 2,000 aircraft and built 300,000 by the end of the war.

"This is what the changes we need look like," it says.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told FAS: “Our member states need to spend more, but also do it better.

And we have to do it together.”

Leading defense politicians in the traffic light coalition agree.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl from the SPD, said it would “not work without new production capacities”.

In an interview with the FAS, she called for the special assets for the Bundeswehr to be increased from the current 100 billion to 300 billion.

Sara Nanni, the leader of the Greens on the Defense Committee, said that if you want peace, you “must also invest in security.

In the next few years we have to ramp up production.”

The chairman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann from the FDP, recalled supply problems with ammunition.

Switzerland refuses to pass on projectiles for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank cannon manufactured there to Ukraine.

That shouldn't be the case, said Strack-Zimmermann: "The manufacture of ammunition belongs in one of the NATO countries or in Germany."

Due to the war in Ukraine, grenades and rockets are currently the biggest problem in supplying western armed forces.

"This conflict is consuming a tremendous amount of ammunition and devouring our stockpiles," said NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg.

According to Allianz estimates, Ukraine fires up to 10,000 artillery shells a day.

But the USA only produces 15,000 bullets a month.

NATO representatives are therefore worried about the replenishment of the alliance's "crucial ammunition".

These are: artillery shells of the NATO standard caliber 155 millimeters, shells for the HIMARS rocket launcher and for the air defense systems Gepard, IRIS-T and Patriot.

A NATO representative concludes: "We need new armaments factories."

Only Albania, Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta are weaker

Germany has more catching up to do in this area than most of its allies.

No other important country in NATO and the EU does so little for defense in relation to its size.

One measure of this is the "Militarization Index" of the Bonn International Center for Conflict Research.

In addition to military expenditure, it also takes into account the proportion of soldiers in the population and the number of heavy weapons per capita.

According to this, only Albania, Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta are weaker than Germany in NATO and the EU.

The same applies to the production capacities.

After the end of the Cold War, these were adapted to the reduced demand.

At a procurement summit at the Chancellery at the end of November, managers and government representatives discussed how production could be increased – but without any result.

"The Bundeswehr has a blatant ammunition deficit," says Högl.

"Just to compensate for that, more production capacity is needed in industry."

Some companies are already responding.

The Düsseldorf armaments group Rheinmetall works in shifts and builds new factories.

In the coming week, for example, the construction of a new ammunition plant in Várpalota, Hungary, will be announced, as the FAS learned.

From 2024 onwards, 30 millimeter medium caliber ammunition will initially be manufactured there.

Another plant is currently being built in Unterlüss, Lower Saxony.

In the short term, the group wants to expand production in the existing plants.

"We use all opportunities to further expand capacities, for example by introducing two- or three-shift models and hiring new employees," said CEO Armin Papperger of FAS. Rheinmetall also had 700 in the first three quarters of last year Millions of euros have been invested in preliminary products and stocks for which there are still no orders, for example for German army tank ammunition or for the repair of decommissioned Marder armored personnel carriers.

"We are asking politicians for planning security with regard to future procurements, in order to be able to tackle large-volume investments in good time," says Papperger.