German defence concern Rheinmetall has said it has “the utmost respect” for Ukrainian weapons manufacturers after its CEO Armin Papperger compared Ukrainian drones to “Lego bricks” made by “housewives with 3D printers”.
Sounds like they are afraid of Ukraine’s progress in arms manufacture and losing market-share with low cost systems which Rheinmetall can’t match because their systems are exponentially over-priced.
This. They’re happy when Shaheds are taken down with Patriots, Sidewinders or similar overpriced missiles that cost between several hundred thousands or even millions, but cost efficient Stings or the like are bad for their business. They solely this a threat of their shareholder values. I’m pretty sure he always waited for such kind of conflict, so that he could present his also massively overpriced platform Sky Ranger, which costs like 70 mil. EUR, but prices do not matter in these times. This is surely a good weapon system, which is then tested on Ukraine battlefields, to verify it with some kind of badge to make even more expensive. How many does Germany have of these operational? Like two? Compare it with the old Gepard. That old tech is pretty much perfect for cheap drone defence, but they rather scrap it, to make something new and expensive. Old tech does not make big bucks. Well, fuck this guy! I’m glad, that he revealed his otherwise so silent little inner Nazi with these statements. They’re all the same, don’t give a shit about people or its lives.
Epic answer from the President of Ukraine didn’t take long:
Can’t argue with the results. Sounds like rheinmetal better start hiring housewives.
I guess russia is losing to Lego bricks and housewives. Which, to be frank, isn’t news.
Sure MIC can produce far more advanced and powerful weapons, but those weapons are also extremely expensive and require more time to build.
Drones are deadly because they are simple and cheap, so you can use them in large numbers.
Yea, fuck this warmongering nazi oligarch cunt. If Germany got invaded by Russia instead they would have been speaking russian already.
I take it more that drones are paradigm shift that endangers Rheinmetall (and other MIC companies’) future, so he naturally will undermine it is hard for those companies t adapt.
They used to work on powerful complex systems, but now something that’s cheap and can be produced in large quantities can be as deadly.
US similarly doesn’t look like it took drones seriously, and now it is experiencing it from Iran. Sure the current weapons can shoot it down, but it is not feasible.
