// WHY NOW

THE MITTELSTAND IS BECOMING A KEY RESOURCE.

With Germany's special defence fund and steadily rising defence budgets, the industry is under scale-up pressure. Prime Contractors cannot manage this ramp-up alone. They need broader, more resilient supply chains and they are looking for exactly the companies that currently produce outside of defence.

100 Mrd German defence special fund

Ramp-up OEMs skalieren ihre Lieferantenbasis

Who is qualified now, is set

German defence special fund, passed 2022. Market context, not a guarantee of specific order volumes.

// THE TIER STRUCTURE

Where in the supply chain do you want to be?

The defence industry is organised on a tier model. The closer to the top, the higher the requirements and order volumes. For your entry, there are two realistic target positions.

// TIER 1

Direct supplier to the Prime Contractor

You deliver complex assemblies, subsystems or modules directly to Rheinmetall, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Diehl Defence or a comparable system house. You are a direct contractual partner of the Prime Contractor and subject to their full qualification requirements, including Prime Contractor audit.

// Standard requirements

ISO 9001 · EN 9100 or AQAP · optionally ISO 27001

// TIER 2

Specialist component supplier

You deliver specialised components and parts to a Tier-1 supplier. Requirements are lower than for Tier 1, but a documented quality management system to ISO 9001 is the minimum requirement for any serious supply relationship.

// Standard requirements

ISO 9001 · optionally ISO 27001

Tier 3 (raw materials and standard components) is not a strategic target for most SME suppliers. The focus of our qualification work is on Tier 1 and Tier 2.

// THE BARRIER

It is not your manufacturing that is the problem. It is your qualification.

Most SMEs that want to enter defence do not fail on quality or capacity. They fail at the formal entry threshold. ISO 9001 is missing or incomplete, ISO 27001 and BSI-Grundschutz have never been considered, EN 9100 is not on the radar and AQAP 2110 is unknown territory.

For Prime Contractor procurement, a company without this documentation is not an option — at best, an initial lead. You may deliver excellently. But no one can verify it.

Without verifiable compliance, your capability remains invisible to procurement.

We take this threshold away from you. We accompany you not just to the certificate, but to the actual listing with a Prime Contractor.

// THE WAY

Six phases from initial check to sustained delivery capability.

No standard package — a structured pathway. The first phase already gives you a clear yes or no before significant investment is made.

01

Initial Qualification

Can your company make this journey at all? We assess structural prerequisites: ownership structure, management commitment, minimum size and core capability. Result: a clear yes or no before investment.

02

Market Entry Strategy

What does your company deliver, which Prime Contractors are looking for exactly that, and how does the approach work? Result: concrete target Prime Contractors, positioning of your capability and a roadmap for market outreach.

03

Readiness Assessment

Gap analysis between your target Prime Contractor requirements and your existing organisation. Result: a prioritised action plan with investment estimates per workstream.

04

Implementation

ISO 9001 as the base, plus ISO 27001, BSI-Grundschutz, EN 9100 and AQAP as required by the action plan. Implemented together with the responsible people in your organisation, not around them.

05

Audit and Certification

Preparation and support through the external audit at an accredited certification body. Result: a robust certificate that holds up in a Prime Contractor supplier audit.

06

Compliance Operations

Ongoing support after certification: surveillance audits, standard updates, new Prime Contractor requirements. A certificate must not only be earned — it must be maintained.

// THE STANDARDS STACK

9001 CARRIES EVERYTHING. WE BUILD ON IT WHAT THE PRIME CONTRACTOR REQUIRES.

ISO 9001 is the foundation for every pathway. What comes on top depends on your target market. We qualify along this tier logic.

// DEPENDING ON TARGET PRIME CONTRACTOR

EN 9100

or AQAP 2110 / 2131

The entry point to aerospace and NATO-compliant defence supply chains. Without EN 9100 or AQAP, there is no access to the relevant Tier-1 Prime Contractors.

// DEPENDING ON ACCESS TYPE

ISO 27001

or BSI-Grundschutz

For companies handling security-relevant information or classified material. Information security is not optional in the defence environment — it is an entry requirement in many Prime Contractor tenders.

// MANDATORY FOR ALL

ISO 9001

Quality Management

The non-negotiable foundation. Without a documented quality management system, Prime Contractor procurement will not classify your company as capable of delivery. ISO 9001 is the structural proof that your organisation manufactures in a reproducible and traceable manner.

// MANAGING DIRECTOR

// THE PERSON BEHIND THE WORK

"I know the standards and the audit perspective from practice. Qualification for me is not paperwork — it is delivery capability that holds."

Stephan Michelfeit spent over ten years working in quality and process organisations, including at SAP and Toyota. There he learned what makes management systems genuinely robust from the ground up. Since 2019, he has brought that knowledge to highly regulated markets: pharmaceuticals, medical technology, insurance and defence. He sees compliance not as bureaucracy but as evidence that a business can deliver when it matters. In a defence mandate, he led the implementation of an ISO 9001 system across all German sites and successfully completed the external audit. The AQAP introduction at this client is currently underway.

ISO 9001 ISO 27001 EN 9100 AQAP External QMO Independent since 2019

Stephan Michelfeit · Managing Director, Michelfeit Consulting

// CONFIDENTIALITY

Your documents remain your documents.

You open your business, processes and documents to us. That requires discretion — and discretion is our standard.

// 01

NDA from the outset

Before we go into depth, a non-disclosure agreement is in place. That makes it clear from the start that your internal information is safe with us.

// 02

Sensitive data stays sensitive

Process documents, gaps and results are treated in strict confidence and shared only with persons you designate.

// WHITEPAPER

The guide to entering the defence supply chain.

Before you talk, read. Our whitepaper shows step by step what an SME needs to become delivery-capable, von den richtigen Normen bis zum Prime Contractor-Audit.

Which standards your target market actually requires — no maximum list
The six phases from initial qualification to listing
The most common pitfalls in the Prime Contractor audit and how to avoid them
An honest assessment of effort and prerequisites

Request Whitepaper →

Free.

Whitepaper Cover: Entering the Defence Supply Chain

// WHITEPAPER 2026

// FREQUENTLY ASKED

What managing directors want to know before taking the step.

Is this even worthwhile for a company like ours?+

We do not answer this with a promise — we answer it with the initial qualification and readiness assessment. You receive a documented assessment of what is realistic for your company. Only then do you decide on the further steps.

We do not yet have ISO 9001. Is that a disqualifier?+

No. ISO 9001 is the base we build together. Many companies start without a formalised management system. What matters is that your manufacturing holds. We build the documentation on top of that.

How does the path to delivery capability work?+

In six phases, from initial qualification through standard implementation to ongoing compliance operations. Which workstreams are relevant for you and in what order — we clarify that concretely in the initial call.

Do we need ISO 9001, EN 9100 and AQAP at the same time?+

Rarely. ISO 9001 is always the base. ISO 27001 or BSI-Grundschutz come in when handling classified information; EN 9100 is relevant for aerospace, AQAP for defence quality assurance. We qualify along your target market, not a maximum list.

Do you only accompany us to the certificate?+

No. The certificate is the prerequisite, not the goal. We accompany you through the Prime Contractor audit preparation and support the actual listing with a specific Prime Contractor.

// NEXT STEP

Whoever qualifies now is set.

We begin with an initial call. Honest, without sales pressure. You describe your starting point — we tell you whether and how an entry into the defence supply chain works for you.

Book Initial Call →