Marder IFVs at a Rheinmetall-Ukrainian repair facility in Western Ukraine on 10 June 2024. (Rheinmetall)
Rheinmetall AG is widening its footprint in Ukraine, by opening the first of multiple planned vehicle repair plants, and with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Ukrainian domestic production of hundreds of thousands of 155 mm artillery rounds and hundreds of Lynx infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).
Signed in Berlin at the Ukraine Recovery Conference from 11 to 12 June, the MOU was intended to develop further areas of defence co-operation between Kyiv and the German firm. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said that “we are already in talks to establish a joint venture for the production of artillery ammunition in Ukraine. We also want to hand over the first Lynx infantry fighting vehicles to the country this year and start manufacturing these systems in Ukraine in the near future”.
Ukraine's Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin said the investment would be a significant contribution to Ukraine's economic recovery and thanked Rheinmetall for their confidence in the Ukrainian defence industry.
Rheinmetall announced on 12 June that its yet-to-be-concluded framework agreement for the delivery of several hundred Lynx combat vehicles to Ukraine would also include training, maintenance, and repair services.
On 19 February Rheinmetall signed an MOU with a Ukrainian partner company to build and jointly operate a new production facility in Ukraine to produce a ‘six-digit number' of 155 mm artillery rounds and propellant charges annually. The project would create what Rheinmetall termed a ‘Ukrainian centre of excellence for ammunition', with Rheinmetall holding 51% of the shares in the joint venture and the Ukrainian partner 49%. The Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine told Janes
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