VILNIUS - Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger expects that half of the production output from the German defense industry giant's planned factory in Baisogala will remain in Lithuania, while the rest will be exported to other European countries and beyond.
"At the moment, there is a need (for ammunition) worldwide. And at the moment, I think that we are only able to produce 50 percent of the demand that we have internationally. So, I see that for the next ten years, exports to a lot of European countries, but also outside Europe, will be possible from Lithuania," Papperger told BNS in Vilnius on Wednesday.
The CEO stressed that the Baisogala factory will not serve only the Lithuanian military.
"It's not only for them. So my expectation is 50 percent for export and 50 percent for needs here. Yeah, about that," he said.
In November, Lithuanian government officials signed an agreement with Rheinmetall on the purchase of 155 mm ammunition, though the details remain undisclosed.
Asked what message he would send to the residents of Baisogala - a small town in the northern district of Radviliskis - and the surrounding area, who are concerned that the future factory could become a target for Russian attacks, Papperger said he was confident that NATO's Article Five would be triggered in such a scenario.
"I think if Russia attacks a NATO state, they will always have a problem because, at the end of the day, Article Five will come into play," he told BNS.
NATO's Article Five states that an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all members. So far, it has been invoked once, in 2001, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
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