Rheinmetall proposes to produce HIMARS in Germany. The head of one of the largest arms manufacturers in Germany, Armin Papperger, gave a long interview to Reuters /
In it, he said that the company was ready to establish the production of HIMARS launchers and ammunition in Germany to meet the sharply increased war. demand in Ukraine.
HIMARS and various types of rockets for it are manufactured by Lockheed Martin in the USA. Rheinmetall is in talks with Lockheed Martin and aims to sign an agreement with them at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February.
We have the technology to make warheads as well as jet engines – and we have trucks to install launchers,” Papperger was quoted as saying by Reuters.
He spoke about the capabilities of his concern for the production of ammunition for cannon artillery.
In 2022, Rheinmetall produced 60-70 thousand shells for tank guns (120 mm) or for artillery (155 mm). According to him, the company is able to immediately increase production to 240,000 tank shells per year (which is more than the whole world needs) and up to 450-500,000 per year of 155 mm caliber.
NBC sources at the Pentagon estimated in November that Ukraine was spending between 4,000 and 7,000 shells per day (some of this is Soviet-caliber shells, but their stocks are running out and production outside of Russia is not enough, so the Ukrainian army is gradually switching to Western artillery) .
This roughly coincides with the figure of 5-6 thousand shells per day, which in June in an interview with the Guardian was given by the deputy chairman of Ukrainian military intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky.
American officials (including Secretary of Defense and retired General Lloyd Austin) have spoken out in the sense that such a consumption of ammunition for the Ukrainian army is excessive and is a relic of Soviet military doctrine.
In December, the United States launched a program to train the Ukrainian military in maneuvering tactics adopted by the American army, with one of the considerations being the desire to reduce the cost of ammunition to the level of reproduction in the rear.
The United States recently adopted a program to increase the production of shells to 90,000 per month for two years. Before the start of the war, the United States produced 14.4 thousand 155-mm shells per month.
How many shells Russia produces is not officially disclosed. During the summer offensive in the Donbass, when the Russian army widely used the “barrage” tactics and was able to transport shells by rail without interruption, estimates of its consumption of shells reached 20,000 per day.
Much has changed since then: Ukraine has regained control of the Kupyansk-Izyum railway line, large warehouses have had to be moved far from the front to be out of reach of HIMARS strikes, and stockpiles accumulated over many years, as analysts suggest, are running out.
According to the testimony of the Ukrainian military, now the cost of shells of the Russian army at the front is approximately comparable to the Ukrainian one.
Source: Racurs
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