Armin Papperger, chairman of German defense concern Rheinmetall, has called on European countries to create larger and more specialized defense groups to compete with American companies.
He explained this in an interview with the Financial Times.
In his view, if Europe wants closer defense cooperation, countries need to specialize in different types of military technologies.
“There’s no point in us choosing the second or third best technology just because one country wants it,” he said. – This is the most difficult debate they are conducting at the government level. “We need big companies in Europe.”
European defense companies compete with each other, military budgets are controlled at the national level, and individual countries seek control over strategic supply chains, factories, jobs and technological advantages, the newspaper writes.
An example of successful cross-border cooperation is MBDA, Europe’s largest missile manufacturer, which is owned by the British company BAE Systems and the European aircraft-making group Airbus, each with a 37.5% stake, with the remainder belonging to the Italian company . Leonardo.
Papperger also noted that the pressure on Germany will increase if Donald Trump becomes the US president, but the race to re-establish America’s military power will continue regardless of who comes to the White House.
“The United States is focused on the Asia-Pacific region rather than Europe,” he said. If the “very risky situation” in the region leads to a large-scale armed conflict, “the United States will focus on Asia, then Europe will be left alone.”
Papperger said that in recent years European leaders had assumed that the United States would come to the continent’s aid in the event of a military threat, but “that’s not going to happen anymore.”
U.S. defense capabilities have faced their own challenges, which Papperger highlights growing political polarization. “The big task of the next U.S. president will be to bring the two parties together. It’s a bad thing that the world’s largest economy and greatest defense force is a divided nation,” he said.
According to Ukrinform, German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall plans to establish at least four facilities in Ukraine.
Photo: dpa