The American military-industrial concern Lockheed Martin has expanded its presence in Poland by opening the second largest production center in the world. This was announced by the company's Vice President for Europe Jonathan Hoyle, moscowtimes.eu reports.
"The Melk plant is the second largest Lockheed Martin production center in the world. The only other plant larger than it is our production facility in Greenville in the United States," Hoyle said.
The opening of the plant in Poland is part of Lockheed Martin's production diversification strategy.
According to Jonathan Hoyle, this strategy has already yielded results, allowing to double the production of HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems and Javelin man-portable anti-tank missile systems. This measure is not only due to "changes in the geopolitical environment," according to a Lockheed Martin spokesperson. During the pandemic, the company realized that centralizing production in one place entails high risks.
The Lockheed Martin deputy chairman also emphasized that the company is committed to further developing its operations in Poland and is in talks with the Polish Ministry of Defense on possible cooperation at various levels. Details of the agreements were not disclosed.
Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Western arms and military equipment manufacturers have been thinking about opening new production facilities in Europe. Some of them have started to manufacture their products directly in Ukraine.
For example, in August, the German arms company Rheinmetall decided to lease tank factories in Ukraine to maintain and produce Leopard tanks.
The concern is preparing to open another plant from scratch in western Ukraine. The plant will assemble and repair Fuchs armored personnel carriers under license.
In July, the Turkish company Baykar began construction of a plant for the production of Bayraktar attack drones.
At the end of August, the British company BAE Systems opened an office in Ukraine to implement joint arms production projects. At the start, it plans to produce and repair NATO-standard L119 howitzers.