Rheinmetall Repairs Tanks from Ukraine in Maintenance Center in Romania

Rheinmetall is building a maintenance and logistics center “at full speed” near the Romanian border with Ukraine. The center is to be completed by end-April. Western combat systems for Ukraine, such as the Leopard 2, will be kept operational there. A similar center is in Lithuania.

As reported by ntv, in the future, Rheinmetall wants to service and repair weapons from Ukraine, such as battle tanks and self-propelled howitzers in Romania. “Rheinmetall is working flat out to set up a military maintenance and logistics center in Romania, a NATO partner country,” said a spokesman. Work on the site near the city of Satu Mare has already begun. This is near the Ukrainian border.

The center is scheduled to start work in April. It should “play a central role in maintaining the operational readiness of Western combat systems in Ukraine and ensuring their logistical support”. According to the Düsseldorf group, this applies to self-propelled howitzers – but also to main battle tanks such as the Leopard 2 or the British Challenger, armoured personnel carriers such as the Marder, Fuchs armoured transport vehicles or military trucks. Combat vehicles of the NATO forces could also be looked after there.

“It is a key concern for us at Rheinmetall to give the NATO forces and Ukraine the best possible support in this critical situation,” said Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger. Servicing and repairing weapons supplied to Ukraine played an essential role in the country’s defence after the Russian attack.

In June 2022, Rheinmetall and its partner company KMW founded a comparable maintenance center in Jonava, Lithuania, to be able to look after combat vehicles of the Lithuanian and other NATO forces stationed in the Baltic States.