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Why is it taking so long to build up the arms industry?

2024-02-26 19:50:00, Blog CNA

The EU's goal was quite ambitious. 1 million artillery shells Europe wanted to offer by March to Ukraine in order to repel military superpower Russia in the war. But the promise cannot be kept two years after the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24. Experts at the Security Conference in Munich (16-18.02.) had to admit this a few days ago. The reason lies in the structure and operation of the war industry. However, there are signs of hope. The arms industry is increasing its production capacity. Even new collaborations can help Ukraine.

As with the German concern, Rheinmetall. The concern produces, among other things, tanks for the Bundeswehr, but also ammunition for anti-aircraft tanks, Gepard, which are also used in Ukraine. Rheinmetall's share price has quadrupled since the start of the war in Ukraine. Rheinmetall meanwhile operates several three-shift factories and plans to build new factories. While the policy, led by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the SPD wants the German army to be "war-ready" to scare Russia in the event of a possible attack against a NATO country. But this is taking much longer than even experts expected for a country like Germany, which ranks among the top 5 arms exporters in the world, according to the Stockholm Institute, SIPRI, (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute).

Why is it taking so long to build up the arms industry?

Mid-tier companies have big problems

At a time when Rheinmetall can quickly finance investments in the production of armaments from its own reserves, smaller companies have it much more difficult, says the executive director of the Federal Association of the Security and Defense Industry, BDSV, Hans Christoph Atzpodien in an interview with DW. Atzpodien is talking about 200 companies in the arms industry sector. More than 80% of them do not have more than 300 employees. "Among them, many are highly specialized", emphasizes Atzpodien, that is, they produce products that are supplied to others, that is, it is a classic level of the German medium-sized company.

The German government announced recently that it will reach this year's goal of investing 2% of gross domestic product for NATO. Germany achieves this objective only because it created the special 100 billion euro defense fund, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced after the start of the war in Ukraine. With these funds, among other things, American fighter jets, F35, will be financed.

Why is it taking so long to build up the arms industry?

Meanwhile, the regular budget of the German army remains more or less unchanged. But it is exactly this budget that the small companies of the armaments industry have their eyes on, says expert Jürgen Fischer for DW. Fischer is editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Security and Technology. "We need production orders", said a representative of the armaments industry at the Security Conference in Munich (February 16-18) at the meeting "European Defense Production Gaps".

More cooperation in the arms industry

The Ukrainian minister for strategic industries, Alexander Kamyshin, participating in this meeting in Munich, said that "it is moving forward". Two years after the Russian invasion, Kamyshin met with representatives of the German arms industry to discuss various collaborations. In January, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced such cooperation of the arms industry in Ukraine with EU companies. Ukraine itself is trying to produce more ammunition and combat weapons with the support of European know-how.

Why is it taking so long to build up the arms industry?

But the problems of arms production that exist in Europe are increasingly mixed with the problems that Ukraine has. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba drew attention to another problem. The European 155 mm shells of the European supporting countries have the problem that they are often only suitable for certain types of artillery systems. "On the ground, this is a big problem," said Kuleba. "We cannot use the same ammunition for other weapons systems." Even NATO has identified this problem. The projectiles are indeed the same size, but the firing technique is different. The missile alignment has so far failed due to the military bureaucracy of NATO member states.

Czech ammunition for Ukraine

Thus, the EU could not fulfill its promise to supply Ukraine with ammunition quickly and better. But hope comes from the Czech president, Petr Pavel, who has promised aid. The Ministry of Defense in Prague and manufacturers in the country have found a solution to supply Ukraine with certain grenades. "As far as I know, our companies have identified 500,000 NATO 155-millimeter caliber shells, and 300,000 122-millimeter caliber shells," Pavel said. The issue of financing remains to be resolved.

Even Germany will accelerate aid. In order to increase production in armaments factories, there will be more guarantees from the German government in the future. This was announced by the Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck, expressing optimism that such a step will help both the German army and Ukraine./ DW