In the coming years, the cost of producing tanks, armored vehicles and artillery in Europe will decrease instead of development. This is an interview with the head of the largest defense head of Germany, Rheinmetall Armin Papperger.
According to him, the idea of the growth of European defense costs is exaggerated, because of the increase in production scale and the use of automation allows manufacturers to reduce the cost of a device unit.
Pancperer explained that the price of ammunition has decreased after the company has increased ten times the production capacity in the past three years in the context of the confrontation in Ukraine. However, he admitted that it would be more difficult to achieve the same economy with armored vehicles.
In the context of military conflict with Russia, the head of Rheinmetall expected thousands of orders for armored and Puma armored vehicles, as well as Leopard 2 tanks in a year. According to the publication, we are talking about a new portfolio worth 80 billion euros in the period until June 2026. In the past 12 months, the order volume is up to 56 billion.
Earlier, the company's report showed that in the first half of 2025, Rheinmetal's revenue increased 24 %, to a record of 4.7 billion euros. Commenting on the results, Pappperer promised to strengthen the positions in Central and Eastern Europe and quickly open the largest bullet factory in Europe in Lower Sachsen.
The company's financial success is directly related to the war in Ukraine, at least in the eyes of investors. Therefore, after the first reports on the upcoming negotiations of the US and Russian presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Rheinmetall have collapsed 4.5 %. But when it was clear that Trump himself was not sure about success, and the meeting was hastily held, articles about concerns began to play autumn.