Do you ever read a bit of news and say, “ah, yeah. That makes sense.” Well, Volkswagen is apparently in talks with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, working out a deal that would switch production at the automaker’s Osnabrück plant in Germany from vehicles (what it should be making) to missile defense components for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system (what it should not be making), according to people who were familiar with the plan.
Under this scheme VW’s Osnabrück factory would build various Iron Dome parts, including heavty-duty turcks that carry the system’s missiles. It would also build launchers and electricity generators. However, in a bit of relief of peace-loving Volkswagen fans everywhere, the automaker wouldn’t produce the projectiles itself. From the Financial Times:
The concept would require minimal new investment, according to the first person. “There is some money needed to transition to new production but this is pretty easy.”
The idea, he added, was that “proven [defence] tech comes together with German manufacturing” to produce the system.
Production could be up-and-running within 12-18 months, the person said, as long as workers agreed to switch to weapons production.
Rafael plans to set up a separate production facility in Germany for the system’s missiles, which must be handled on a specialist site.
The company hopes to sell the Iron Dome system to governments across Europe including Germany, as countries strengthen their air defences as part of a large-scale rearmament in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Germany last year took delivery of the first of three batteries of the Israeli Arrow 3 air defence system, made by another Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries.
Rafael chose Germany for European production because of its status as one of the strongest supporters of Israel in Europe, according to a third person familiar with the plan.
Another of the people said the company had heeded pleas from senior German officials to harness excess capacity in the country’s struggling industrial sector.
I suppose this tie-up does make some sense from VW’s perspective. The German automotive industry is struggling right now, but do you know what isn’t? War. It’s very possible that this switchover could save 2,300 jobs at the plant, which has been under the threat of closure.
Still, even people within Volkswagen seem to understand that this may not be the most popular idea with folks who were in the plant, but I don’t really think that’s going to stop these plans from moving forward:
“The aim is to save everybody, maybe even to grow,” said one of the people familiar with the plans. “The potential is so high. But it’s also an individual decision for the workers if they want to be part of the idea.”
The German government is actively supporting the proposal, according to a second person.
VW already makes military trucks in a joint venture between subsidiary MAN and German arms group Rheinmetall. But the partnership with Rafael would mark a major return to weaponry for VW, which produced military vehicles and the V1 flying bomb for Hitler’s Wehrmacht during the second world war.
Maybe there’s still hope for the Volkswagen lovers out there who aren’t particularly fond of Zionism. A spokesperson for the automaker told the Financial Times that it was in discussions with “various market players,” adding that there were “currently no concrete decisions or conclusions regarding the future direction” for the Osnabrück plant.
