155 mm ammunition | Photo: Rheinmetall
German arms company Rheinmetall announced on Thursday a ‘strategic partnership’ with India’s Reliance Defence Limited ‘in the field of ammunition’ with a memorandum of understanding to the effect.
Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG emphasised that ‘this Strategic Partnership of Rheinmetall with Reliance Defence led by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group illustrates our strong commitment to partner with India under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Modi.’
A statement quoted Anil Ambani, founder of the Reliance Group, as saying, “We are delighted to partner with Rheinmetall AG, a global major in defence industry and a visionary leader like Armin Papperger. This is a transformational moment for the Indian Defence sector and for Reliance Infrastructure’s subsidiary Reliance Defence.”
According to Rheinmetall, ‘the collaboration between the companies will include supply of explosives and propellants for medium and large caliber ammunition to Rheinmetall by Reliance.’
The statement said ‘Reliance Defence Ltd will set up a greenfield manufacturing facility in the Watad Industrial Area, of Ratnagiri, Maharashtra’ state to support this collaboration.
The companies expect the facility to be ‘one of the largest in South Asia’ with an ‘annual capacity to produce up to 200,000 artillery shells, 10,000 tons of explosives and 2,000 tons of propellants.’
Reliance Defence Limited has earlier partnered with two other European companies, Dassault Aviation and Thales.
The Indian company is also planning to set up ‘an integrated project for the manufacturing of explosives, ammunition and small arms under the Dhirubhai Ambani Defence City (DADC)’ in the Watad industrial area in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, which it says ‘will be the largest greenfield project in the defence sector ever developed by any private company in India,’ once completed.
Rheinmetall has expanded steadily since the outbreak of the War in Ukraine, and more recently, due to European efforts to reduce reliance on U.S. companies, with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. According to dpa, its share price has gone up ten times since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It plans to increase its workforce from 32,000 to 40,000 in the next two years. Its sales jumped 36 percent over 2023 to around €9.8 billion in 2024. It is even considering the conversion of its manufacturing of auto parts to military equipment, which now generates 80 percent of its sales. It has a backlog of military orders worth €55 billion.
The German news agency quoted Papperger as saying in March, “An era of rearmament has begun in Europe that will demand a lot from all of us,” and reported that his company’s executive board expects sales growth of 25% to 30%.
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