Ammunition production in Europe for Ukraine is delayed due to a severe shortage of explosives. The EU is facing a shortage of gunpowder, plastic explosives and TNT, which is why it cannot fill orders quickly, according to the Financial Times.
As the main problem, EU officials cite the fact that the bloc’s defense industry is not in the best shape for large-scale production under the billion-euro aid promised to the EU. Ukraine.
According to manufacturers, an increase in demand for weapons can only seriously increase their cost, which has already increased by 20% in 2022. But this will not affect the increase in production volumes. Most European factories are already working at their limit. And the growth in production volumes will take at least three years.
The fundamental problem is that the European defense industry is unable to carry out large-scale military production.
one of the German officials confirmed to the publication.
Market players claim that it is easy to build a new artillery factory. But it is much more difficult to produce artillery ammunition without raw materials.
Earlier, the Bundeswehr was at the center of a scandal: it was officially announced that Germany, which this year should play a leading role in NATO’s collective rapid reaction force, would not be able to deploy a full-fledged tank battalion. Instead of the planned 30 Leopard 2A7 tanks, only two dozen were able to gather across the country, and the rest of the vehicles of the latest modification were recognized as unfit for combat and need to be repaired.
