German city halts company’s plan to boost weapons production for Ukraine
The city council of Troisdorf in Germany has disrupted the expansion plans of Diehl Defence, one of the largest arms companies in the country, to produce weapons for Ukraine, AFP reported on Dec. 27.
Diehl Defence produces ignition devices essential for producing large quantities of explosives, including rockets and missile charges. These components are utilized in the manufacturing of IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile systems, with Berlin having already supplied three to Kyiv, AFP said.
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The conflict between the Troisdorf authorities and Diehl Defence, leading to the blockage, has persisted for several weeks.
The city decided to claim a portion of the business park housing the group's subsidiary, DynITEC, intending to allocate a plot of land equivalent to 50 football fields for residential and office development.
Diehl Defence sought to purchase the land, previously listed for sale by the former Dynamit Nobel weapons company, to expand its production capacity.
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German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius criticized Troisdorf’s mayor, Alexander Biber, in early December, urging local and regional authorities to speed up the rate of arms production.
"The pressure is great because in Europe and in Germany there is a real bottleneck on ammunition," Pistorius told MPs.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Chair of the Bundestag (German parliament) defense committee, condemned the actions of the Troisdorf city authorities as "irresponsible."
"This is about Ukraine, but also and above all about Germany's security," she said.
The EU has committed to supplying Ukraine with one million artillery shells by March 2024. The German industry's contribution to the EU plan is expected to eventually reach 300,000 to 400,000 shells annually, more than three times the production level during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to industry sources cited by AFP.
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