Rheinmetall will transfer prototypes of artillery shells with a range of 100 kilometers to Ukraine

Rheinmetall will transfer prototypes of artillery shells with a range of 100 kilometers to Ukraine

The defense concern Rheinmetall (Germany) plans to supply Ukraine with “hundreds of thousands” of artillery ammunition in 2024. Among them will be prototypes of projectiles with a range of 100 km.

This was announced by the Chairman of the Board of Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, speaking at the Industrial Club of Düsseldorf-Boss, Handelsblatt reports. In particular, in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine, he said that “artillery changes the rules” on the battlefield and Rheinmetall is expected to supply hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to the Ukrainian army this year.

"The company is now focusing in particular on the production of artillery ammunition. Artillery is changing the rules," Papperger said.

As the publication notes, the Russian Federation produces a large amount of artillery ammunition and Ukraine can only respond to attacks to a limited extent due to the lack of shells. In both Europe and the United States, artillery ammunition production capacity has been gradually reduced in recent years.

“The Western world is not ready for a conventional war,” Papperger said.

Before the full-scale invasion, Rheinmetall’s capacity was about 70 thousand shells per year. The DAX group is already expecting 700 thousand shells this year. In the medium term, 1.1 million rubles are expected.

The most modern 155 mm artillery ammunition that Ukraine has or had in service also came to Ukraine thanks to German assistance, but not from Rheinmetall. This was Vulcano ammunition in different versions.

In particular, the Vulcano 155 BER with a flight range of about 50 km and the Vulcano 155 GPS/SAL with a flight range of about 70 km were delivered. A total of 255 shells were delivered.