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The German arms concern Rheinmetall is negotiating the construction of a tank plant in Ukraine. This was stated by the CEO of the concern Armin Papperger in an interview with a German publication. If an agreement is reached, the company will be able to produce up to 400 Panther tanks a year, and the Ukrainian air defense forces (ADD) will be able to protect the plant from Russian attacks, Papperger believes, FREEDOM reports.
Also, the CEO of the military concern Rheinmetall believes that in order to win the war unleashed by Russia, Ukraine needs from 600 to 800 tanks. The formation by NATO countries of the so-called “tank brigade” for Ukraine, according to the gunsmith, is not enough to de-occupy the territories occupied by the Russian army. Therefore, negotiations are now underway between Germany and Ukraine on the construction of a new plant.
“For about 200 million euros, a Rheinmetall plant can be built in Ukraine, which would produce up to 400 Panther tanks per year. Negotiations with the Ukrainian government are promising and I hope that a decision will be made in the next two months,” Papperger said in an interview with the Rheinische Post.
The German investor is not afraid of the fact that a plant built in Ukraine may be under the gun of Russian attacks. The head of Rheinmetall is convinced that the enterprise can be protected from Russian air strikes, and this “protection by air defense will not be difficult.” According to the military expert of the Ukrainian Institute of the Future Ivan Stupak, in addition to air defense installations, it is possible to reduce the risk of enemy missiles hitting a military-industrial complex enterprise if it is located underground.
“I am sure that this object, if I did it in the right way, I would bury it in the ground. That is, either in the mountains or deep underground. In principle, there is the experience of our metro builders, for example, in Kyiv, the Arsenalnaya metro station is 100 meters deep, no Iskanders are afraid of these objects,” says Stupak.
He also believes that, subject to a successful deal, the construction of a tank plant can be expected in Ukraine after the end of hostilities. And priority at such defense enterprises should already be given to the production of new equipment and weapons of the fifth generation, and not to the improvement of the old one.
“Most likely, after the war, all that we have left is Soviet, we will sell it somewhere to Africa and exchange it for German Leopards, if these are tanks, for aviation, for Western ones. Get rid of the old Soviet, not just rubbish, but the old Soviet heritage of weapons, switch to NATO standards. This will be very important, on the one hand it is the economy, on the other hand it is the modern military industry, ”said the military expert.
In mid-January, at the economic forum in Davos, Ukraine emphasized priority areas that will become drivers of the country’s post-war recovery. The government of Ukraine emphasized that military-tech (high-tech weapons) is in first place in attracting investments from Western partners.
“The very next day after the victory, Ukraine will become a kind of global investment Mecca. Companies that are ready to invest in Ukraine and localize production here understand that we are actually talking not only about the Ukrainian market, but about the EU market, because Ukraine will be in the European Union. It is private international investment that can become the core for the restoration of Ukraine,” said Yulia Svyridenko, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, during her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
At the moment, Ukraine needs ammunition and equipment from Western partners. And Germany, which has been criticized throughout the past year by Kyiv and elsewhere for taking too long to agree to new deliveries, is now taking the lead in providing weapons. It is reported by Reuters.
“Air defense systems, such as the German IRIS-T and Patriots from the US as well as from Germany, are very important in protecting civilian infrastructure and critical infrastructure. Secondly, battle tanks. A lot has changed here too: at first there were 14 of them, then four more from Germany, plus the supply of Leopard 1 tanks. Germany took on an important role in creating a tank coalition,” said Oleksiy Makeev, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany.
The German government signed contracts with the Rheinmetall concern to resume the production of Gepard anti-aircraft guns for Ukraine. And as the director of the concern Armin Papperger said, now the enterprise is operating at full capacity, more than 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles have already been put into operation, by the end of the year there will be about 100 of them.
