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A turnaround you can touch – at least that is the message from the federal government. If everything goes well, a Rheinmetall ammunition factory will be built here in Unterlüß in Lower Saxony in record time.
It is scheduled to be ready at the end of 2025 and will then deliver 200,000 bullets per year. This also includes ammunition for self-propelled howitzers used in Ukraine.
Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor
“Several thousand artillery shells are currently being fired on the front in eastern and southern Ukraine, mind you, every day. This shows how important independent and long-term production of such ammunition is. The truth is: there was no such production before the turn of the century. Not in Germany and not in many other European partner states.«
The visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen should be seen as a signal. Because: The US Republicans have been blocking new arms deliveries to Ukraine for weeks for electoral reasons - and Europe is not stepping into the breach quickly enough.
Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor
»Not only the United States, but also all European countries must do more to support Ukraine. The promises made so far are simply not enough. Germany’s forces alone are not enough.”
The new ammunition factory in Unterlüß is just one step in the turning point. It will help Ukraine – record construction time or not – in two years at the earliest. And if the Americans elect Donald Trump as president again in November, Europe will face completely different security policy challenges.