In December 2018, it became public that the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall continues to supply Saudi Arabia with ammunition, such as is used in the current Yemen war, despite the German export ban, established in reaction to the killing of the Saudi-Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Rheinmetall sidestepped around the ban, working instead through two of its subsidiaries located in Italy and South Africa, which have looser arms regulations than Germany.₁
 
Rheinmetall is the largest arms manufacturer in Germany with sales of 3.42 billion dollars in weapons alone.₂ The company’s role in the arms trade dates back to its founding in 1889₃, and it first introduced the barrel recoil canon for field service in 1898. After the takeover of August Borsig in 1933, Rheinmetall expanded₄, growing to take on a decisive role in the surging German military machine of National Socialism.₅ During this period, more than 12,000 Germans workers and 5,000 foreign forced laborers were working in the armament production.₆ Today, Rheinmetall’s product range includes all types of weapon systems for land warfare and related ammunition, as well as armored vehicles.₇
 
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