LONDON, August 12. /TASS/. Europe’s weapons factories are expanding at three times the rate of peacetime, stretching over seven mln square metres, the Financial Times reports, citing radar satellite data.
According to the newspaper, European weapons production facilities jumped from 790,000 square metres in 2020-2021 to 2.8 mln square metres in 2024-2025. "Among the sites with the biggest expansion was a joint project between German defense giant Rheinmetall and Hungarian state defense company N7 Holding, which has built a vast production site for ammunition and explosives in Varpalota in western Hungary," the Financial Times writes. The newspaper’s analysis involved 150 facilities across 37 companies.
William Alberque, a former senior NATO official, pointed out that "these are deep and structural changes that will transform the defence industry in the medium to long term."
The Financial Times notes that European countries have to build up defenses due to a desire to continue providing military assistance to Ukraine, as well as to the potential decrease in the United States' role in Europe’s defense.
On July 14, US President Donald Trump announced plans to continue sending weapons and military equipment to Kiev as long as the EU pays for arms shipments in coordination with NATO. He specified that the deliveries would include 17 Patriot systems.