Overview

• Rheinmetall bought the 41-hectare Lerchenberg property in Zusamaltheim on July 1, according to the mayor.
• The company plans to process both World War legacy ordnance and newer stored ammunition, including old stocks from the Bundeswehr and other NATO forces.
• Thirty-two concrete bunkers on the grounds can store up to 900 tonnes of net explosive mass, while the destruction plant itself still needs to be built.
• Zusamaltheim mayor Stephan Lutz says the municipality has no objection to the project and calls the plans sensible.
• Rheinmetall cites unresolved munitions caches—about 1.6 million tonnes suspected in the North and Baltic Seas and more than 20,000 tonnes in southern Germany—and has recently added disposal capabilities through its Stascheit acquisition.