MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - The arms manufacturer Rheinmetall is aiming for a particularly large slice of the German government's 100 billion euro special fund. "You can assume that in the end between 30 and 40 billion euros will come to us from the special fund," company CEO Armin Papperger told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (Saturday edition). "For air defence, trucks, ammunition, our share of the F35 program and much more."

The fact that the tank builder and ammunition manufacturer is likely to have the largest share of the Berlin program for itself is due to the size of the company. "We are also the largest German company in this field," said Papperger. "If we had received the smallest share, then we would have done something wrong."

If the Bundeswehr's special assets are used up, there are "only two options", said the manager. "You can take on new debt or reallocate money from the budget." There is "no alternative", because "otherwise the turnaround would be over in 2026" and we would be "worse off than before", said Papperger. Germany would then have "more military equipment", but would "no longer be able to pay for its deployment". In addition, personnel would also be needed and soldiers would also have to be paid.

In order to play in "the same league as the Americans", according to the Rheinmetall boss, large European armaments companies would have to join forces. "We need a European armaments champion." Papperger himself tried to take over the Munich-based tank manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) with Rheinmetall six years ago. However, the company is now together with the French armaments company Nexter. He does not believe "that France would support a takeover by Rheinmetall today", said Papperger. There are currently "no talks whatsoever". But the company is "open to everything".