On the edge of a former Cold War-era air base, Germany’s largest military contractor began assembling components this week for F-35 fighter jets in a gleaming new factory that symbolizes where Rheinmetall sees its future — in aviation and the United States.
The factory in Weeze, on Germany’s western border, is the latest move by Rheinmetall, a company best known for producing tanks and artillery, to expand its portfolio into aviation and solidify its role in the U.S. defense market, the world’s largest. It is also a reflection of the greater role the defense industry is already playing in Europe.
“This is just the start for us,” said Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall’s chief executive, adding that the factory had been built to U.S. standards, making it a possible location for further cooperation with U.S. contractors.
Rheinmetall, based in Düsseldorf, emerged as a leading beneficiary of the German government’s increased military spending after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The company reported record growth last year, and its market capitalization has jumped to more than 91 billion euros at the start of July, from some €4 billion in 2022.
Last week, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization pledged to raise their spending on the military to 5 percent of domestic income by 2030, meaning that even more money will be flowing into the industry.
Germany has been focused on making sure that much of its increased military spending stays at home. Nearly half of the €137 billion that Berlin invested in military equipment from 2020 to 2024 went to German companies, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Another third went to partnerships that involved a German company.
When Germany ordered 35 new F-35 jets to upgrade its air force, the money came from a €100 billion fund created in 2022 to improve the country’s defenses. But the government stipulated that the jets’ manufacturers, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, also support German industry, leading them to look for a local collaborator.
“Rheinmetall wants to be in aviation, has the technical and precision skills in other things they do that would be easily transferable to building the F-35 center fuselage, so we formed a partnership,” said Stephen O’Bryan, corporate vice president at Northrop Grumman.
Last month, Rheinmetall also signed an agreement with Anduril, a military start-up from California that uses artificial intelligence to build autonomous systems and weapons for the military.
The partnership will focus on manufacturing drones that can be sold to Germany and its European partners, which are looking to lessen their reliance solely on the United States to meet their military needs.
The Anduril partnership shows Rheinmetall is positioned “to capture further growth opportunity beyond the land defense systems and ammunition in which it is already a European leader,” Chloe Lemarie, an analyst with Jefferies, wrote in a research note.
The partnerships also point to an industry where trans-Atlantic ties appear to be thriving, despite European leaders’ growing concern that the United States is no longer a reliable partner under President Trump and European consumers are shunning U.S. products.
Mr. Papperger said that the F-35 partnership was a “lighthouse project” at a time when relations between the United States and its European partners had been strained, and that it helped advance Rheinmetall’s goal to become a player in the U.S. military market.
Last year, the company paid $950 million to acquire Loc Performance Products, a Michigan manufacturer of components for military vehicles that employs 1,000 people.
“We have not seen any negative effects of the Trump administration,” Mr. Papperger said. “If you make America great again, then you are very welcome.”
The factory in Weeze was built to resemble its U.S. counterpart in Palmdale, Calif., where Northrop Grumman assembles F-35 fuselages for the U.S. military. Dozens of German engineers spent months in Palmdale training alongside their U.S. counterparts before returning to Weeze.
Inside the German plant, pallets still wrapped in plastic stand among the first stations where assembly of the air-intake parts began this week. Some 200 people work at the plant, a number that is expected to double as more assembly lines are set up.
Rheinmetall plans to increase its overall work force by nearly a third in the next three years, adding up to 9,000 jobs.
Many of the applicants came from the automotive sector, traditionally Germany’s largest industrial employer, but one that is expected to shed some 140,000 jobs over the next decade.
Verena Bellinghoven, 31, a process engineer, arrived at the company last year from a job in the automotive industry. She spent several months in California before returning to open the new plant.
Working in the defense industry was once a career that Germans were ashamed to talk about, but that is changing as the German military contracts create more jobs.
Still, it has not reached the same level as in the United States, where “there is a real pride in the industry,” Ms. Bellinghoven said. “As a result, you’re simply greeted with gratitude and recognition that I had never had before from my job.”
Melissa Eddy is based in Berlin and reports on Germany’s politics, businesses and its economy.
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