“Housewives with 3D printers”: Rheinmetall’s CEO criticized Ukrainian drone manufacturers

The CEO of the German tank and armored vehicle manufacturer Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, described Ukrainian drones as “housewives’ work” and a “Lego set,” saying they are of little use to Western countries.

This was reported by The Atlantic journalist Simon Shuster, recounting his conversation with Papperger.

According to him, the head of the company spoke dismissively about Ukrainian drone production.

“When I brought up the drones that Ukraine has used so effectively against Russian tanks, the company’s chairman and CEO, Armin Papperger, reacted with contempt: ‘That’s like playing with a Lego set,’” Shuster writes.

Papperger does not expect Ukrainian developments to “upend” his industry.

“What is Ukraine’s innovation?” Papperger asked. “They do not have any technological breakthrough. It is just playing with Lego. These are Ukrainian housewives. They have 3D printers in their kitchens and they make parts for drones. They produce their little drones and say, ‘Wow!’ And that is great. Fine. But this is not Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, or Rheinmetall technology,” the article says.

It notes that Ukrainian drones are mostly assembled from imported components: rotors, motors, cameras, and chips. Most of these parts come from China, where one company produces more than 80 percent of the world’s small UAVs. Their low cost, especially compared with systems made by Lockheed Martin or Rheinmetall, makes them extremely effective, Shuster emphasized.

At the same time, the United States and its allies have already depleted stocks of expensive air-defense missiles after the start of the war with Iran, forcing governments in the Middle East to urgently look for cheaper solutions, including Ukrainian-made interceptors.

It is worth recalling that earlier, the head of one Ukrainian drone manufacturing enterprise also said that Kyiv was unlikely to interest the West with its drone-production technologies, since most of them are assembled like a “construction set” from Chinese parts.