Top-ranking military officials from NATO member states and Ukraine gathered in the German city of Dresden for secret talks this week, Bild has claimed. The host country reportedly used the opportunity to tout its arms manufacturers’ latest innovations.
Earlier this month, Germany’s leading defense company Rheinmetall announced that it had nearly doubled its operating profit in the first half of 2024. The arms giant said the Ukraine conflict was among the factors that “significantly improved business performance.”
In an article on Thursday, Bild reported that ground force commanders of 35 European nations, as well as Ukraine and the US, had gathered for a closed-door meeting in Dresden, believed to have run from Tuesday through Thursday. According to the German tabloid newspaper, the event was shrouded in secrecy, with heightened security measures in place over spying concerns.
Among the topics discussed were NATO’s new operational areas in Sweden and Finland, which both joined the US-led military bloc within the last 18 months, as well as threat analysis and lessons learned from the Ukraine conflict, the paper reported.
According to Bild, the meeting also featured a display of the German defense industry’s hardware, including Rheinmetall’s Skyranger anti-aircraft system. With its revolver-type autocannon and a powerful radar, Bild described it as ideal for intercepting enemy drones.
Back in June, the paper quoted Rheinmetall’s head of Land Systems, Bjorn Bernhard, as saying a variation of the Skyranger, mounted on the chassis of the German Cold War-era Leopard 1 tank, could soon be supplied to Ukraine.
In addition, a new Remote Controlled Howitzer RCH 155 was presented to military dignitaries in Dresden, the article alleged. The first 54 units of the weaponry will reportedly be delivered to Ukraine next year, with several European militaries also allegedly expressing interest.
Rheinmetall is currently building a new plant in Lower Saxony, and the company said in May that it was aiming to produce as many as 700,000 artillery shells annually by 2025.
The German arms manufacturer opened a tank maintenance hub in western Ukraine in June, and has announced plans to set up more ammunition and air-defense factories on Ukrainian soil.
Senior Russian officials have warned that Moscow would consider these facilities “legitimate targets” for military strikes.
The Kremlin has consistently argued that Western military aid to Kiev only serves to prolong the bloodshed, while failing to change its ultimate outcome.