Germany has taken a major step into the future of air combat manufacturing with Rheinmetall’s opening of a €200 million facility in Weeze, North Rhine-Westphalia, dedicated to producing center fuselage sections for the U.S.-built F-35A Lightning II. Developed in partnership with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, this is only the second such facility in the world and the first in Europe to be directly integrated into the F-35’s global production ecosystem.
Set to begin manufacturing in July 2025, the plant will deliver its first fuselage section—composed of nearly 300,000 components and weighing two tons—to the United States in late 2026. Germany’s order of 35 F-35As to replace its aging Tornado fleet underscores Berlin’s commitment to NATO’s nuclear sharing strategy and next-generation defense.
Spanning 60,000 square meters, the site features production lines, research labs, quality control centers, training units, and logistics hubs. With an annual output capacity of 30 units—expandable to 36—the facility is projected to deliver at least 400 fuselages over two decades under a framework agreement with Northrop Grumman. A robust training partnership with AERO-Bildungs GmbH ensures skilled local labor will match U.S. standards in both quality and innovation.
This launch is not just a technical milestone—it reflects Rheinmetall’s broader diversification beyond traditional land-based systems into aerospace, AI-enabled platforms, and next-gen mission technologies. It also reinforces Europe’s growing demand for regional F-35 production and sustainment capacity, aiming to secure long-term industrial benefits, strategic autonomy, and supply chain resilience.
With over 1,900 suppliers worldwide contributing to the F-35 program, Europe plays a central role—producing roughly 30% of all components. From the UK’s ejection seats and vertical lift systems to Denmark’s composite parts and the Netherlands’ avionics infrastructure, a complex web of allied industries feeds into what is now the most sophisticated fighter program in history. New investments in places like Finland, Belgium, and Australia further expand the decentralized production model.
As geopolitical tensions rise—particularly in Eastern Europe and the Indo-Pacific—the integration of German industry into the F-35 supply chain highlights a unified transatlantic effort to build a resilient, future-ready airpower network. Rheinmetall’s new plant is not just producing aircraft parts; it’s manufacturing a cornerstone of modern defense cooperation.
