Rheinmetall has expanded its Albacete plant with a new medium-caliber ammunition production line, in which it has invested about €20 million. The facility will have the capacity to manufacture nearly 3 million components a year: 1.2 million projectiles and 1.8 million cartridge cases in calibers ranging from 20 to 35 millimeters.
The expansion, unveiled on October 15, 2026, involves a roughly 5,700-square-meter building that has been modernized to accommodate the new machinery. The plant will produce 20- and 25-millimeter projectiles, 1 million cartridge cases in those same calibers, and another 780,000 in 30- and 35-millimeter calibers.
The components will subsequently be processed at other group factories, including the one in Burgos, to produce ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles and air-defense systems. Products cited by the company include armor-piercing projectiles, kinetic-energy ammunition with time fuzes, and Ahead ammunition, fitted with a programmable fuze that releases sub-projectiles before reaching the target. The latter is already in service with the Spanish Armed Forces.
The new line is part of the Firepower project, through which Rheinmetall aims to increase output to meet demand from the armed forces of NATO countries and other allies. The Albacete factory, operated by Rheinmetall Expal Munitions, had until now specialized in mortars and related systems.
Workforce to rise from 210 to about 300 employees
The company plans to increase the plant’s workforce from the current approximately 210 employees to about 300, an increase of nearly 43%. According to data provided by Rheinmetall, the site works directly with 23 local companies and another 87 businesses operating across the region.
The expansion also includes a new 5,200-square-meter facility, built in less than a year, to increase the manufacture of mortars and mortar systems, as well as carry out aircraft maintenance work. Planned capacity exceeds 650 60-, 81-, and 120-millimeter mortars annually and includes about 45 81-millimeter Dual Eimos systems. Rheinmetall is also preparing serial production of the 120-millimeter Eimos.
The group says it employs 3,400 people directly in Spain, across the Rheinmetall Expal Munitions headquarters in Madrid and six factories. According to figures presented by its chief executive, Armin Papperger, the company maintains a network of 1,300 Spanish suppliers that receives annual orders worth €500 million.
