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Armin Papperger

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Armin Papperger
Armin Papperger
Born1963
NationalityGerman
EducationUniversity of Duisburg (Diplom-Ingenieur, mechanical engineering)
OccupationBusiness executive, engineer
CompanyRheinmetall
TitleChief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board

Armin Papperger (born 1963) is a German engineer and business executive who has been chief executive officer and chairman of the executive board of Rheinmetall, the Düsseldorf-based arms manufacturer, since January 1, 2013. Papperger joined the company as a quality-management engineer in 1990 and has spent his whole career there, running defence subsidiaries and then its weapons, munitions and vehicle divisions before he became chief executive.[1] As of October 2026 his appointment runs until December 31, 2029.[1]

Papperger ran the company as a mixed automotive and defence group for most of the 2010s. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and Germany's Zeitenwende rearmament programme, his public profile rose sharply, as the Guardian noted in 2024.[2] Under him the company built new ammunition plants in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, set up joint ventures in Ukraine, entered the DAX index in March 2023, bought the naval shipbuilder NVL and agreed to sell its civilian automotive business.[3][4] Group sales from continuing operations reached €9.9 billion in 2025, and the company has forecast €14.0 billion to €14.5 billion for 2026.[4]

In July 2024 CNN reported, citing American and other Western officials, that US intelligence had uncovered a Russian plan to assassinate Papperger and that German authorities had protected him after a warning from Washington. German officials quoted by Der Spiegel said it would overstate matters to call it a foiled attack.[5][6] In December 2025 The Economist named him its best chief executive of 2025.[7] In March 2026 he drew criticism from Ukraine's president and prime minister after he dismissed Ukrainian drone production as the work of "housewives" with 3D printers.[8]

Early life and education

Papperger was born in 1963.[1] He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Duisburg, specialising in molecular gas dynamics, production engineering and materials science, and graduated as a Diplom-Ingenieur.[9] In 1990 the Association of German Engineers (VDI) gave him its VDI-Förderpreis for work on single-sided resistance welding of electrolytically galvanised steel sheet.[9] VDI nachrichten has described him as white-haired and speaking with a southern German lilt.[9]

Career

Quality management and subsidiary management, 1990 to 2009

Papperger started at the company in 1990, in quality management in what was then the group's defence sector.[1][9] According to the company, he became managing director of several defence subsidiaries from 2001, and in July 2007 he was also made head of the Weapon and Munitions division.[1] When 4iG, a Hungarian company part-owned by his employer, appointed Papperger to its advisory board in 2022, it said his experience lay in quality assurance and manufacturing processes, in allocating internal resources and in improving cooperation between parts of the group.[10]

Defence management board, 2010 to 2012

In early 2010 Papperger took responsibility for both the Vehicle Systems division and the Weapon and Munitions division on the group's Defence management board.[1][9] Papperger joined the executive board of the parent company on January 1, 2012.[1] VDI nachrichten reported that as a board member Papperger also had charge of the defence business.[9]

Chief executive of Rheinmetall, 2013 to present

Papperger became chief executive and chairman of the executive board on January 1, 2013.[1] At that point the group combined a defence arm with a large automotive-supply business. In May 2021 the supervisory board extended his contract by five years, to December 31, 2026. The company said then that it had begun reorganising itself as an "integrated technology group". It dissolved its intermediate Automotive holding company so that the executive board ran the five divisions directly, and it put its pistons operations up for sale as non-core.[11] In 2023 VDI nachrichten credited Papperger with that restructuring.[9]

The Economist wrote in 2025 that Papperger had promoted Europe's defence industry "well before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at a time when it was viewed warily by the continent".[7] After the invasion, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz's announcement of a €100 billion special fund for the Bundeswehr, Papperger argued publicly that the sum was too small. Reuters, as cited by VDI nachrichten, quoted him as saying that "€100 billion sounds like a huge sum, but we would actually need a €300 billion package to order everything that is needed", because ammunition was not covered and inflation would erode the fund.[9] In 2023 Papperger used the Munich Security Conference, which his company sponsored, to discuss tank deliveries with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.[9] When the company entered the DAX on March 20, 2023, Papperger said: "We want to participate with our products in increasing budgets for military capacities."[3]

Papperger presented the 2023 results in March 2024. He said the company had made about 70,000 artillery shells a year before the war and was now moving towards about 700,000. He attributed the shortfall in Western stocks to an earlier belief that artillery mattered little in an age of nuclear weapons.[12] On February 12, 2024 Papperger hosted Scholz, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Defence Minister Boris Pistorius at the ceremony marking the start of construction of "Werk Niedersachsen", a new ammunition plant at Unterlüß in Lower Saxony.[13] The Guardian reported that in spring 2024 Papperger also took Scholz round one of the company's production halls full of Leopard battle tanks.[2]

On November 6, 2024 the supervisory board, chaired by Ulrich Grillo, reorganised the executive board. Papperger, then 61, was kept on for a further five years from January 1, 2025. Chief financial officer Dagmar Steinert left and was replaced by Klaus Neumann, and René Gansauge joined the board in the new post of chief operations officer. The company said it expected to reach about €10 billion in annual sales for the first time in 2024, with an order backlog of around €60 billion, and was preparing for annual sales of about €20 billion "in just a few years".[14] In his March 2025 letter to shareholders, Grillo wrote that the contract had been extended "ahead of schedule until 2029", and that Papperger's target pay had been raised as part of the extension. That increase meant the maximum remuneration under the board pay system had to be changed, and the change was put to shareholders at the annual general meeting on May 13, 2025.[15]

In a November 2025 interview with ZDF, Papperger said the company planned to grow to €20 billion to €25 billion in sales by 2027 and €40 billion to €50 billion by 2030. He also said Germany could have the strongest conventional army in Europe, and that the target date was 2029. He described plans to convert a former automotive plant in Neuss to make satellites, drones (but not their warheads), protection systems and air defence systems. Responding to critics of rearmament, he said they were entitled to their view but that "politics must decide where we go".[16] ZDF also reported that Papperger faced growing public hostility, including arson attacks and demonstrations in the neighbourhood where he lives, and that critics accused him of an aggressive expansion strategy.[16]

At the 2025 results call on March 11, 2026, Papperger said the company now had about 29,000 employees, excluding the naval business and the civilian operations being sold. He linked new demand for air defence to attacks by Iran across the Middle East, saying that "all or nearly all" of the countries attacked used the company's air defence systems and had asked about faster deliveries.[17] Papperger set out plans for missile production, saying it was harder than scaling up ammunition "because on the ammunition we have to produce more from the same, but on the missiles we have to produce new technologies". He expected a small contribution in 2027 and readiness in 2028.[17] He also said an accident at the company's site in Murcia, Spain, had affected 2025 ammunition output, and that the site was "back on track".[17]

Leadership and management style

When the supervisory board extended Papperger's contract in 2024, its chairman, Ulrich Grillo, said: "We are particularly pleased that we were able to persuade Armin Papperger to extend his contract. His assertive and agile leadership and knowledge of the Group, its customers and products ensure continuity."[14] Grillo's 2025 letter said that in the market conditions of the time it was "particularly important for the company to be led by a personality with his experience and expertise".[15] The Economist, which had interviewed him in 2025, said he had "displayed both courage and conviction", and that he had strengthened his security after the reported Russian plot but "remains unintimidated".[7]

Papperger has been an outspoken public advocate for higher defence budgets. VDI nachrichten wrote in 2023 that since the start of the war he had shown "how to position oneself regularly with one's own topics". It quoted him calling for a "sustainable" defence budget line, Einzelplan 14, planned over the next ten years.[9] Papperger has often spoken in terms of national responsibility. When he broke ground at Unterlüß he said the plant reflected "our sense of responsibility and resolve to contribute materially to the ability of our country and our NATO partners to defend itself".[13] Announcing the planned sale of the automotive business in March 2026, he said it had been a "difficult decision to part ways with the many employees who represent our automotive activities". He added: "It is now our responsibility to serve our country and our customers."[4]

Papperger has also spoken publicly about the course of the war in Ukraine. In a February 2026 interview with the Berlin media platform Table.Media, he said that "Russia is not interested in ending the war" and that he did not expect it to end in 2026. He said that the company was producing more ammunition than its contracts with Ukraine required, and that in some areas the funding for this production had not yet been secured.[18][19]

Major deals and strategic decisions

Ukraine

Under Papperger the company set up its first joint venture in Ukraine, Rheinmetall Ukrainian Defense Industry LLC, with the state-owned Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC (formerly Ukroboronprom) in Kyiv in October 2023. It began by maintaining and repairing combat vehicles, with plans to build armoured vehicles in Ukraine later.[20] At the Munich Security Conference in February 2024, the company signed a memorandum of understanding for a second joint venture to make 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine, in which it would own 51 percent. Papperger said then: "We want to be an effective partner of Ukraine, to help rebuild the country's once powerful defence industry... Already today, we are Kyiv's most important defence industry partner."[20] CNN reported in July 2024 that the planned armoured vehicle plant inside Ukraine was a particular concern for Russia.[5]

Ammunition capacity

"Werk Niedersachsen" at Unterlüß was paid for by the company, with investment in the region of €300 million and no government funding. It was designed to make up to 200,000 artillery shells a year, along with explosives and rocket artillery components, and to create about 500 jobs.[13] On June 20, 2024 the company signed a framework contract with the Bundeswehr for 155mm artillery ammunition worth up to €8.5 billion gross, which the company called the largest order in its history. The Netherlands, Estonia and Denmark also took part, and an initial call-off of about €880 million was placed to keep the new plant busy during start-up. Papperger said: "The Federal Government is keeping its word... The Federal Chancellor assured us of this during his visit on the occasion of the ground-breaking ceremony."[21] In November 2025 Papperger said the group was building or substantially expanding 13 plants in Europe. These included a plant in Lithuania where ground had just been broken, a planned plant in Latvia, and two large ammunition and powder plants agreed with the Bulgarian government.[22]

Acquisitions

The company's €1.2 billion takeover of the Spanish ammunition maker Expal, made during Papperger's tenure, was later questioned by regulators. In September 2025 Global Competition Review reported that Spain's competition authority had told the company it wanted to reinvestigate the deal, because misleading information had been submitted during the original clearance.[23] In November 2025 Papperger said the planned purchase of NVL, the naval arm of the Lürssen group, would make the group "a global defence champion" active "on land, at sea, in the air and even in space".[22] The acquisition was completed on February 27, 2026. It brought in four shipyards in northern Germany, including Blohm+Voss in Hamburg, and about 2,100 employees.[24] In June 2026 the company bought 51 percent of the Croatian unmanned vehicle maker DOK-ING, which became Rheinmetall Unmanned Vehicles.[24]

Exit from automotive

The executive board approved a plan to dispose of the civilian business at the end of 2025.[24] In early June 2026 the group signed an agreement to sell its civilian activities to a subsidiary of the Munich investor AEQUITA. The provisional purchase price was €350 million, and the sale was expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.[24] The company said that with this exit it would "focus entirely on the defence business". Papperger said the company was "responsibly supporting our colleagues in their transition to a good solution outside our group".[4]

Financial and market performance

The company's shares cost about €100 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022. By March 19, 2024 they had closed at €487.80, after a rise of almost 70 percent in 2024 alone.[12] According to Der Spiegel, group sales grew by 12 percent in 2023 to about €7.2 billion, with around 34,000 employees.[12][6] The Guardian reported that the operating result for 2023 was almost €1 billion and that the order book had grown by about 44 percent to more than €38 billion.[2]

For 2025, the group reported sales from continuing operations of €9,935 million, up 29 percent from €7,715 million, with the automotive business reported separately as a discontinued operation. The operating result rose by 33 percent to a record €1,841 million, a margin of 18.5 percent. The backlog stood at €63.8 billion at the end of 2025, against €46.9 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share from continuing operations rose from €17.19 to €22.73, and the board proposed a dividend of €11.50 per share, up from €8.10.[4] In the first half of 2026, sales rose 39.4 percent to €5,227 million and the operating result rose 73.6 percent to €786 million. By June 30, 2026 the backlog had reached €80.5 billion, including the naval business for the first time.[24]

The Economist calculated that the company returned 158 percent to shareholders, including dividends, in 2025.[7] The shares then fell sharply in early 2026. According to Brussels Signal, they had dropped by almost 30 percent since early January, from more than €1,900 to €1,370, by the end of March 2026.[25]

In March 2024, after the share price had risen steeply, Papperger sold shares in the company worth €4,906,492.60, according to a voting rights notification reported by Der Spiegel.[12]

Board memberships and outside roles

Papperger is a member of the presidium of the Federation of German Industries (BDI). As of October 2026 the federation lists Papperger as chief executive of his company and president of the Federal Association of the German Security and Defence Industry (BDSV).[26] In 2022 4iG appointed him to its advisory board. 4iG said Papperger would support the international market entry of a planned joint venture between the two companies, and noted that his company held 25 percent of 4iG. It also listed him at the time as an advisory board member of Supashock Advanced Technologies, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and Deutsche Bank, a board member of the BDI, and a board member of Förderkreis Heer, an association that supports the German army.[10] According to 4iG, Papperger also sat on the executive and supervisory boards of subsidiaries of his own group.[10]

Controversies

Reported Russian assassination plot

On July 11, 2024 CNN reported, citing five unidentified American and Western officials, that US intelligence had learned earlier that year of Russian government plans to assassinate several European defence industry executives who supported Ukraine, and that the plan against Papperger was the most advanced. According to CNN, the United States told Germany, whose security services then protected him.[5] A senior German government official confirmed that Washington had warned Berlin.[5] Der Spiegel reported that German authorities had received the warning about two months earlier, and that the main reason given was the company's plan to build an armoured vehicle plant in Ukraine. Senior officials told the magazine there had been no concrete information on the type of attack or the perpetrators, and that calling it a foiled attack went too far.[6]

Papperger told the Financial Times, as reported by the Guardian, that the German government had put "a great level of security around my person", and he said of the CNN report: "I think CNN is not just looking up at the sky".[2] The Guardian reported that a police car and officers with submachine guns had been stationed outside the company's Düsseldorf headquarters for months, and that North Rhine-Westphalia police guarded Papperger at football matches, cultural events and association meetings.[2] Der Spiegel also reported that in late April 2024 unknown people set fire to a summer house belonging to Papperger in Lower Saxony. Left-wing extremist activists claimed responsibility online, calling the company a profiteer of the Zeitenwende; investigators were examining whether the claim was genuine.[6] Grillo later cited "the special security situation in the company" as the reason for holding the 2025 annual general meeting online.[15]

"Housewives" remarks on Ukrainian drones

In an interview with The Atlantic published in late March 2026, Papperger played down Ukraine's drone industry. He said: "This is how to play with Legos... What is the innovation of Ukraine? They don't have some technological breakthrough." He also said: "Who is the biggest drone producer in Ukraine? It's Ukrainian housewives. They have 3-D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for drones." According to Reuters, he also said "This is not innovation".[25][8] In the same article Papperger said the company would keep building tanks and artillery, even though cheap drones capable of destroying them were becoming more common on the battlefield.[8]

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded: "If every housewife in Ukraine can really produce drones, then every housewife in Ukraine can be the CEO of Rheinmetall." He added that "today we must compete not with rhetoric, but with technology and results".[27] Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote that Ukrainians deserved respect and that others could learn from the country's experience. Presidential adviser Oleksandr Kamyshin said drones of the kind Papperger dismissed had destroyed more than 11,000 Russian tanks, and the hashtag #MadeByHousewives spread online.[8] Florian Seibel, founder of the German drone company Quantum Systems, said he was "very sorry and embarrassed for the public statements made by a fellow German defence CEO".[25] The company then posted a statement saying it had "the utmost respect for the Ukrainian people's immense efforts in defending themselves against the Russian attack" and that "the innovative strength and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people are an inspiration to us".[25][28]

Personal life

In 2024, after he was placed under police protection, people close to the company told Der Spiegel that the security measures heavily affected his quality of life, but that he would not be intimidated by them.[6]

Philanthropy

In February 2024 the company pledged €100,000 to the Olena Zelenska Foundation in Kyiv, which funds education, healthcare and humanitarian projects in Ukraine. Papperger said: "Children need to go to school, the sick need to be treated, families have to be fed. In making this donation, we at Rheinmetall are helping here, too."[29] The donation was made by the company, not by Papperger personally.

Recognition

  • 1990: VDI-Förderpreis of the Association of German Engineers.[9]
  • 2025: The Economist named Papperger best chief executive of 2025. The magazine ranked bosses of companies in the S&P 1200 by shareholder returns relative to their sector, and picked Papperger from a final group that included Tom Palmer of Newmont and Son Jae-il of Hanwha Aerospace. It noted that he had "narrowly" missed its shortlist in 2024.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 <ref>"Executive Board".Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 <ref>"US reportedly foiled Russian plot to kill boss of German arms firm supplying Ukraine".July 11, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 <ref>"Ukraine war propels arms maker Rheinmetall into DAX index".March 20, 2023.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 <ref>"Financial figures: Rheinmetall drives expansion forward and stays on course for success, 2025: Operating result at record level, margin increased again".March 11, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 <ref>"Exclusive: US and Germany foiled Russian plot to assassinate CEO of arms manufacturer sending weapons to Ukraine".July 11, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 <ref>"Armin Papperger: Russland plante offenbar Anschlag auf Rheinmetall-Chef".July 11, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 <ref>"The Economist: The best CEO of 2025 as war, AI, tariffs and market turmoil reshape global business".December 23, 2025.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 <ref>"Ukraine hits back against arms maker CEO's 'housewives' drones comments".March 30, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  9. ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 <ref>"Rheinmetall-Vorstand Armin Papperger: Rekordgewinne mit Panzern und Munition".March 14, 2023.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 <ref>"4iG advisory board to expand with renowned international experts".4iG Plc.2022.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  11. ↑ <ref>"Steady as she goes".May 27, 2021.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 <ref>"Rheinmetall-Chef Armin Papperger verkauft Aktien für rund fünf Millionen Euro".March 19, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 <ref>"Shoring up national security preparedness: Rheinmetall to build new ammunition plant, German Chancellor and Prime Minister of Denmark take part in groundbreaking ceremony".February 12, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 <ref>"Reorganisation of the Rheinmetall Executive Board: Rheinmetall positions itself for further growth".November 6, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 <ref>"Letter from the Chairman of the Supervisory Board to the shareholders".March 31, 2025.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 <ref>"Rheinmetall-Chef: Deutschland kann stärkste Armee Europas bekommen".November 6, 2025.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 <ref>"Full Year 2025 Rheinmetall AG Earnings Call: Edited transcript".LSEG StreetEvents.March 11, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  18. ↑ <ref>"Rheinmetall CEO Does Not Expect Peace in Ukraine by 2026".February 16, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  19. ↑ <ref>"Rheinmetall CEO states critical lack of funds for increasing arms supplies to Ukraine".February 17, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 <ref>"Joint venture with Ukrainian partner: Rheinmetall to produce artillery ammunition in Ukraine".February 19, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  21. ↑ <ref>"Largest order in company history: Rheinmetall receives framework contract for 155mm artillery ammunition for the Bundeswehr with a total gross value of up to €8.5 billion".June 20, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 <ref>"Q3 financial report: Rheinmetall shows steady growth and expands defence business by almost a third".November 6, 2025.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  23. ↑ <ref>"Rheinmetall could face new investigation into Expal acquisition".September 17, 2025.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 <ref>"Half-yearly financial report 2026".2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 <ref>"CEO of Rheinmetall ridicules Ukrainian drone industry as 'housewives playing with Lego'".March 30, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  26. ↑ <ref>"Präsidium".Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  27. ↑ <ref>"Zelensky responds to Rheinmetall CEO's remark on Ukrainian housewives building drones".March 30, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  28. ↑ <ref>"Rheinmetall-Chef Armin Papperger bezeichnet ukrainische Drohnenhersteller als "Hausfrauen"".March 29, 2026.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  29. ↑ <ref>"Help for Ukraine: Rheinmetall donates €100,000 to Olena Zelenska Foundation".February 7, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
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