Germany’s mittelsand is found by a new age

On the days of the invasion of Russia in Ukraine, while the industrial hearts of Germany shuddered and recessed, the head of the 161 -year -old engine maker, Deutz, proposed a plan to turn adversity into the opportunity.

“I said” what about defense? “, Said Sebastian Schulte to ask colleagues, thinking that the engines of the colony company for tractors, excavators and other heavy machinery were perfect for the tanks.

“Our engines travel 3,000 meters above sea level, at a mine, 40 degrees Celsius or less, this is exactly the type of reliability military,” he added.

Three years later, the manufacturer plans to win about 2 percent of more than 2 million euros in annual revenue from the defense contracts, from close to the NO -to be previously. This is a proportion that is only likely to grow as Deutz begins to deploy specifically for military customers, such as hybrid engines that can help tanks approach enemies with more peace of mind.

Deutz is one of the Mittelsand’s companies in Germany: the network of small and medium -sized businesses that make up the largest spine in Europe economy – They have jumped to the opportunity to deepen the country’s increasing weapons spending, in the midst of a deepening of industrial malaise.

Reboot of German Defense: Fed by the loosening of their strict loans rules And the threat of decreasing North -American Support: a widespread taboo has annulled among German companies that surround the manufacture of weapons, calmly redrawing the moral and commercial boundaries of their industrial core.

Family-owned laser specialist Trumpf is planning to commit to refraining from weapons production. Meanwhile, Schaeffler Automobile Supplier, which has announced thousands of work cuts, as German vehicle production slows down, has said that in future supplies pads to tank manufacturers.

Economists hope that many mittelsand companies, deepened by an industrial slowdown of punished, will jump to the opportunity presented by the increase in European defense spending.

The corporate discomfort in Germany has been close to nearby levels during pandemic, as increased energy costs, driven by the collapse of Russian gas supplies, and a bleak industrial perspective have intensified the de -industrialization warning. The country’s economy suffers the most prolonged fall in its postwar historyreducing both 2023 and 2024.

“You can be sure that all companies capable of providing services and products needed by the German Armed Forces will definitely try to obtain contracts,” said Hans-Jürgen Völz, BVMW’s leading economist, a Mittelstand lobby group. “Almost all sectors of the economy can benefit -(Germany),” he added.

A group that is repositioned to serve the defense industry is the Bavarian chemical producer Alzchem.

Until 2022, one of the basic companies of Alzchem focused on supplying nitroguanidine to the agricultural sector: a construction block for many herbicides used to improve crop performance, which is also highly explosive and can be used to boost long -range shells.

“Everyone talked about Cyber ​​Wars in the future, no one took into account that 155 mm ammunition of 155 mm would be the most necessary ammunition again,” said Andreas Niedermaier, CEO of Alzchem.

But when the pure demand for artillery shells became apparent: Rheinmetall has expanded its 155 mm of ten munity production in the last three years: Alzchem went from fertilizer to fire force, leaving its agricultural customers to supply the defense industry.

“We let this market go to the Chinese,” Niedermaier said about the old Alzchem Herbicide business. Instead, it is rapidly expanding its ability to supply weapons manufacturers.

Alzchem has since received an EU grant of 34 million euros for ammunition production to support a plan of 140 million euros to double nitroguanidine production at its Trostberg headquarters. The United States government has also granted the company $ 150 million to build a plant, a project for which Alzchem is looking for places.

Niedermaier said he hoped that the defense would represent more than 10 percent of Alzchem’s sales in the near future, depending on how he made his other important growth, creatine bet, an amino acid that creates popular muscle among fitness influential.

But the transition in several of the famous Mittelsanda companies in Germany has not been without friction. The manufacture of weapons has been found in postwar Germany for some time due to the legacy of industrial cooperation with the Nazi regime.

The deliberate subinvestment of Germany in the military allowed the country to channel the resources towards its industrial basis of the welfare state and export, but the political consensus that surrounds this approach is now visibly unpleasant.

Deutz’s Schulte, formerly General of the Submarine Manufacturer and Defense Contractor Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, said that his plan to expand the engine manufacturer’s customer customer base for weapons contractors were initially encountered with his companions.

“I had a lot of budget internally,” he said, adding that it happened for a while until the new Deutz strategy became “it would not say widely but accepted.”

Traditionally, many mittelsand companies moved away from the defense sector, bewildered by reputational risks and cultural sensitivities related to post -war pacifism in Germany.

If offers occur, both Deutz and Alzchem had in the past small contracts with defense companies, they were quietly tolerated instead of actively pursuing.

“Like many German companies in Mittelsand (at Deutz), defense was not only a focus, but also actively avoided for reasons (environmental, social and government),” said Schulte.

But the long -term resistance of Germany to weapons production is fading, as the country faces a historical geopolitical change. “We need to see the challenges as opportunities, not to benefit from war, but to ask us: How can you contribute better to solving the challenge?”