https://www.svd.se/a/qPaGeo/europa-miljardsatsar-pa-forsvaret-da-har-sverige-nyckelposition-med-stal
Europe's defense is crying out for Swedish steel
Europe is investing billions to catch up with Russia. But there is a weak point – the lack of armor plate. Sweden has a key position.
Thomas Lundin
Published15:41
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BONN In the early 1990s, the German armed forces had 3,000 tanks; today, there are no more than 300 operational tanks. This compares with Russia , which had over 5,700 tanks in early 2025, according to Global Firepower.
Now German Rheinmetall, German-French KNDS and other European manufacturers are building new weapons factories and hiring new people for a living.
Germany is investing at least 400 billion euros in defense, while the EU is setting up a defense fund of 150 billion euros and EU countries are planning defense spending of 800 billion euros by 2030. These are gigantic investments that have a single goal: to confront Russia, which is spitting out military equipment at record speed.
But Europe's defense industry has an unexpected problem.
“There is a lack of safety steel that is certified for everything from tanks to submarines and frigates,” says Nils Naujok, a steel expert at the consulting company Oliver Wyman, who sees the shortage of armor plate as a bottleneck as Europe arms itself.
The problem is exacerbated by the EU's attempts to reduce its dependence on American manufacturers, which currently account for almost two-thirds of EU countries' procurement of defense equipment, according to investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The current need in EU countries is around 500,000 tonnes of hardened, weapon-grade steel. But demand is growing rapidly and is expected to increase to almost one million tonnes by 2032, according to Nils Naujok.
SSAB dominates
At German Rheinmetall, which supplies everything from armored vehicles to tank guns and artillery pieces, the need for armor plate has doubled in the past two years. Almost all the armor plate that Rheinmetall needs is supplied by Swedish SSAB.
In a comment to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Rheinmetall speaks of a “monopoly market,” which is on its way to becoming a market with a few large producers.
Armin Papperger, vd för tyska Rheinmetall, vill minska beroendet av pansarplåt från SSAB.
Armin Papperger, CEO of German Rheinmetall, wants to reduce dependence on armor plate from SSAB. Photo: Martin Meissner/AP
“We would like to buy from German manufacturers,” CEO Armin Papperger recently told public service news program Tagesschau. But both quality and prices have long been a problem, he explained.
German giants on the march
Rheinmetall is now growing at a rapid pace, building factories in both Germany and Ukraine . Armin Papperger expects order intake of 300 billion euros over the next five years.
The shortage of weapons steel is largely a result of large European manufacturers such as ThyssenKrupp ceasing production after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact more than three decades ago.
One of the few that continued production was SSAB. The companies are today the only certified manufacturer in Europe for several military applications, according to Per Hillström, head of investor relations at SSAB.
– Of course it will change, our competitors will gradually acquire capacity, but in some cases we are the only supplier that meets all specifications, he said recently at the analysis house Pareto's annual metals and mining conference, according to Dagens Industri.
The German Leopard tank, a bestseller as Europe re-arms. Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP
On their way into the market are, among others, German companies Salzgitter and Dillinger Hütte, both of which are investing heavily in armour steel. Salzgitter, one of Europe's leading steel manufacturers, received the go-ahead from the German Armed Forces in early July to supply armour plate for military vehicles.
Complex certification process
Dillinger Hütte states that the company is in contact with all major manufacturers of military land vehicles in Germany and Europe, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
– Several European manufacturers are now building new capacity, confirms steel expert Nils Naujok.
– But the key is not the manufacturing but the certification, which is complicated and lengthy.
The German Bundeswehr and other European armed forces are testing extensively, conducting firings, explosion tests and technical analyses. This takes time and slows down new players who want to enter the market.
SSAB is currently keeping a low profile and prefers not to comment in the media.
Germany is investing big