German arms maker Rheinmetall inaugurated a €500 million artillery-ammunition plant in Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, a facility the company and officials say will become Europe’s largest source of shells once fully operational in 2027. The factory is designed to turn out about 25,000 rounds of 155-millimetre ammunition this year before ramping up to 350,000 rounds annually within two years. Rheinmetall also plans to add rocket-artillery production lines in 2026, bolstering a site that already manufactures components for Leopard 2 tanks. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attended the opening, with Rutte calling the project “crucial” for sustaining support to Ukraine and for deterring future aggression. Rutte said Europe and the United States are on track to “turn the tide on defence production,” noting a continent-wide goal of producing about two million shells a year—still roughly half the output analysts attribute to Russia. The Unterlüß plant underpins an €8.5 billion order placed by Berlin in 2024 and forms part of a broader German drive to expand defence spending and industrial capacity after years of underinvestment. Rheinmetall has signalled that similar facilities could be replicated elsewhere in NATO, aiming to create what its chief executive Armin Papperger described as a “pan-European defence ecosystem.”