diff --git a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java
index b2224526b9..0659b40659 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java
+++ b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java
@@ -1089,14 +1089,15 @@ public class PomConstructionTest
     	assertEquals(1, ( (Properties) pom.getValue( "properties" ) ).size());
     	assertEquals("child",  pom.getValue( "properties/pomProfile" ) );
     }
-    
+
     public void testPomInheritance()
-		throws Exception
-	{
-		PomTestWrapper pom = buildPom( "pom-inheritance/sub" );	
-		assertEquals("parent-description", pom.getValue("description"));
-	}   
-    
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        PomTestWrapper pom = buildPom( "pom-inheritance/sub" );
+        assertEquals( "parent-description", pom.getValue( "description" ) );
+        assertEquals( "jar", pom.getValue( "packaging" ) );
+    }
+
     public void testCompleteModelWithoutParent()
         throws Exception
     {
@@ -1756,6 +1757,20 @@ public class PomConstructionTest
         assertEquals( actual, expected );
     }
 
+    public void testProjectArtifactIdIsNotInheritedButMandatory()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            buildPom( "artifact-id-inheritance/child" );
+            fail( "Missing artifactId did not cause validation error" );
+        }
+        catch ( ProjectBuildingException e )
+        {
+            // expected
+        }
+    }
+
     private void assertPathSuffixEquals( String expected, Object actual )
     {
         String a = actual.toString();
diff --git a/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/artifact-id-inheritance/child/pom.xml b/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/artifact-id-inheritance/child/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eee189d431
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/artifact-id-inheritance/child/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+specific language governing permissions and limitations
+under the License.
+-->
+
+<project>
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.mng</groupId>
+    <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
+    <version>0.1</version>
+  </parent>
+
+  <!-- while groupId and version are inherited, artifactId is not and must be specified -->
+</project>
diff --git a/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/artifact-id-inheritance/pom.xml b/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/artifact-id-inheritance/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f22afbc0ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/artifact-id-inheritance/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+specific language governing permissions and limitations
+under the License.
+-->
+
+<project>
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.mng</groupId>
+  <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
+  <version>0.1</version>
+  <packaging>pom</packaging>
+
+  <!--
+  NOTE: This extends the test to check an edge case of URL adjustment which must not error out during inheritance
+  if the child misses the artifactId (as to be reported by validation).
+  -->
+  <url>http://maven.apache.org/</url>
+</project>
diff --git a/maven-model-builder/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/model/merge/MavenModelMerger.java b/maven-model-builder/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/model/merge/MavenModelMerger.java
index 3a1058cd7a..b8a42a3e19 100644
--- a/maven-model-builder/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/model/merge/MavenModelMerger.java
+++ b/maven-model-builder/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/model/merge/MavenModelMerger.java
@@ -101,8 +101,7 @@ public class MavenModelMerger
             }
             else if ( target.getUrl() == null )
             {
-                target.setUrl( appendPath( src, context.get( ARTIFACT_ID ).toString(),
-                                           context.get( CHILD_PATH_ADJUSTMENT ).toString() ) );
+                target.setUrl( appendPath( src, context ) );
             }
         }
     }
@@ -168,6 +167,12 @@ public class MavenModelMerger
         // neither inherited nor injected
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected void mergeModel_ArtifactId( Model target, Model source, boolean sourceDominant, Map<Object, Object> context )
+    {
+        // neither inherited nor injected
+    }
+
     @Override
     protected void mergeModel_Profiles( Model target, Model source, boolean sourceDominant, Map<Object, Object> context )
     {
@@ -396,8 +401,7 @@ public class MavenModelMerger
             }
             else if ( target.getUrl() == null )
             {
-                target.setUrl( appendPath( src, context.get( ARTIFACT_ID ).toString(),
-                                           context.get( CHILD_PATH_ADJUSTMENT ).toString() ) );
+                target.setUrl( appendPath( src, context ) );
             }
         }
     }
@@ -414,8 +418,7 @@ public class MavenModelMerger
             }
             else if ( target.getUrl() == null )
             {
-                target.setUrl( appendPath( src, context.get( ARTIFACT_ID ).toString(),
-                                           context.get( CHILD_PATH_ADJUSTMENT ).toString() ) );
+                target.setUrl( appendPath( src, context ) );
             }
         }
     }
@@ -432,8 +435,7 @@ public class MavenModelMerger
             }
             else if ( target.getConnection() == null )
             {
-                target.setConnection( appendPath( src, context.get( ARTIFACT_ID ).toString(),
-                                                  context.get( CHILD_PATH_ADJUSTMENT ).toString() ) );
+                target.setConnection( appendPath( src, context ) );
             }
         }
     }
@@ -451,8 +453,7 @@ public class MavenModelMerger
             }
             else if ( target.getDeveloperConnection() == null )
             {
-                target.setDeveloperConnection( appendPath( src, context.get( ARTIFACT_ID ).toString(),
-                                                           context.get( CHILD_PATH_ADJUSTMENT ).toString() ) );
+                target.setDeveloperConnection( appendPath( src, context ) );
             }
         }
     }
@@ -556,6 +557,21 @@ public class MavenModelMerger
         return object.getGroupId() + ':' + object.getArtifactId();
     }
 
+    private String appendPath( String parentPath, Map<Object, Object> context )
+    {
+        Object artifactId = context.get( ARTIFACT_ID );
+        Object childPathAdjustment = context.get( CHILD_PATH_ADJUSTMENT );
+
+        if ( artifactId != null && childPathAdjustment != null )
+        {
+            return appendPath( parentPath, artifactId.toString(), childPathAdjustment.toString() );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            return parentPath;
+        }
+    }
+
     private String appendPath( String parentPath, String childPath, String pathAdjustment )
     {
         String path = parentPath;