Scholz calls for urgent and mass production of weapons in Europe

(Patria) - Europe must massively and urgently increase its arms production, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday, warning that the continent is now "not living in times of peace".

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Rheinmetall ammunition factory, Scholz said European nations must consolidate orders and financing to give the defense industry purchasing guarantees for decades to come, AFP reported.

"This is urgently necessary because the painful reality is that we are not living in times of peace," he said,
referring to Russia's war against Ukraine.

"We must move from production to mass production of weapons," he added, arguing that "those who want peace must be able to successfully deter aggressors".

What happens in Ukraine will decide "whether our peace order, our rules-based world, has a future," Scholz said, adding that Russia must "fail in its attempt to swallow its neighbor by force".

Scholz stressed that it is crucial to change from years of underinvestment in the defense sector to building much-needed production capacities.

"Tanks, howitzers, helicopters, and air defense systems are not lined up on shelves. If nothing has been ordered for years, then nothing is produced," he said.

The new Rheinmetall factory in Unterlüss is expected to start production in 2025 with an initial production cycle of 50,000 shells per year, before progressively reaching its full annual capacity of 200,000.

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said the new factory's goal is to help ensure Germany's "strategic sovereignty in the domain of large-caliber ammunition".

The company aims to produce up to 500,000 shells this year, seven times more than the 70,000 annual production before the war in Ukraine.