Sharp rise in Berlin companies manufacturing military equipment

The number of companies supported by Berlin Partner and manufacturing military equipment in the city has risen by 50 percent in the past four months, according to a report by rbb.

City of Berlin supporting arms manufacturing at 100 local companies

An increasing number of companies in Berlin and Brandenburg are now manufacturing military equipment, including drones, bullets, cameras and security technology.

According to a report by local public broadcaster rbb, the number of companies supported by Berlin Partner Business Development and producing military equipment in the capital has risen from 50 to 100 in the past four months. 

Berlin Partner Business Development is a government-funded service which “supports companies and scientific institutions [...] in the region in their expansion plans”. The companies in question are “dual-use”, meaning they produce goods for civil and military purposes.

One of the most prominent examples is the former car supplier Pierberg, owned by the car and arms manufacturing giant Rheinmetall, which will start producing munitions in the Wedding district of Berlin come September. 

“We have 70 companies, where around 10.000 employees are manufacturing small satellites,” Berlin Partner boss Stefan Franzke told rbb. These satellites help identify storm damage but can also monitor troop movements.

Since 2017, the German army (Bundeswehr) has placed 50 employees at its “Cyber Innovationhub” in the capital, tasked with finding more companies which are willing to become “dual-use”. Demand for military equipment has skyrocketed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Potsdam Ministry of Economics confirmed to rbb that dual-use companies are also on the rise in surrounding Brandenburg, but wouldn’t give concrete numbers for security reasons. In Lübben, Diehl Defence restarted the production of munitions in June after a 35-year pause.

Demonstrations against arms manufacturing in Berlin and Brandenburg

In Wedding and Lübben alike, locals have been protesting the pivot to dual-use. In Lübben, a small city with 14.000 inhabitants, a citizens’ initiative against arms manufacturing in the local area collected 1.600 signatures. Others welcome the jobs that munitions manufacturing brings.

On May 10, a demonstration took place in Wedding to protest the Pierberg plant. Co-organised by 16 different organisations, the demonstration called for an end to “funding the wars of the rich” and for Germany’s 500 billion euro special fund - which includes a bottomless defence budget - to be diverted entirely to healthcare, education and social security.