By Kyiv Post
Copyright kyivpost
The Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said, speaking to the military issues outlet Breaking Defense at this year’s Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade show in London, that Germany and Europe “will grow up to be a reliable partner of the United States.”
“We must not be, as we say, ‘a small boy who is working with a big giant’.” He said that in defending the continent Europe must be seen to be on the same level with the US and that “Germany has to play its role.”
Pushing back on German Chancellor, Freidrich Merz’s earlier criticism of US President Donald Trump’s “America first” doctrine suggesting that Washington could no longer be relied on as a trusted ally, saying Europe would not have to “go it alone.”
Since then, under pressure from Trump, Europeans have upped their defense spending with Germany’s government investing more than most in trying to overcome “years of underspending in the country’s armed forces before the war in Ukraine.” Papperger said Berlin’s military budget was planned to reach €160 billion ($188.7 billion) in 2029.
However, he said that relying totally on European weapons solutions alone or simply buying US products was not possible – a principle that Rheinmetall was implementing in spades.
“We make a Europeanisation of [their] stuff… we implement American technology into Europe.”
The company’s links with US manufacturers, particularly Lockheed Martin was amply demonstrated during last week’s DSEI exhibition.
Along with a new next generation “missile tank destroyer” – that combines Rheinmetall’s Fuchs armored vehicle with the US Hellfire Longbow and Joint Air-to-Ground Munition (JAGM) missiles, the two companies are cooperating in building non-US F-35 fifth-generation fighters in Germany and the Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System (GMARS).
As previously announced discussions are ongoing to build partnerships on other high profile weapon system programs including a four-way collaboration with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Anduril on the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program, around 400 of which Papperger said Germany’s armed forces will require.
