German automaker Volkswagen has agreed on a plan to sell one of its factories and convert this facility into a military production center, with Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems becoming the first major industrial partner, AFP reported on September 8.
Volkswagen announced that it has reached an agreement with Lower Saxony state and Israeli investment company Aurelius Capital on the main terms for the sale of the Osnabrück plant. According to the plan, Aurelius will become a majority shareholder, while Lower Saxony state of Germany also holds a part of the capital in this facility.
The factory will gradually be transformed from automobile manufacturing into a "capacity center for security and defense solutions". The first platform project is to cooperate with Rafael in manufacturing air defense systems and components to serve Germany and other European customers.
Rafael is an Israeli state-owned defense weapons enterprise behind the Iron Dome missile defense system. According to Israeli media, the Osnabrück factory is expected to produce equipment including military vehicles, launchers and generators for this system, but Tamir interceptor missiles themselves will not be manufactured here.
The agreement was said to have faced opposition from the Qatar National Investment Fund, one of Volkswagen's largest shareholders. The final structure kept Rafael outside the factory ownership, instead Aurelius and Lower Saxony took over.
The Osnabrück facility has a history of military production since Nazi Germany. The factory originally belonged to the Karmann car body factory, a unit that used to manufacture aircraft components to serve German war efforts and used forced labor in World War II.
