European countries in the process of producing ammunition for Ukraine have faced a shortage of explosives, which could affect the timing of military assistance to Kiev, writing Sunday The Financial Times.
The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has revealed problems with arms stockpiles in Europe, highlighted the weakness of national production capacities, which have been affected by decades of underfunding.
“The main problem is that the European defense industry is not able to carry out large-scale military production,” an unnamed German official complained to the newspaper.
Lack of explosives and production capacity may slow Kiev’s supply schedule for ammunition, including shells for 155mm artillery pieces.
“It is very difficult to increase the production of artillery ammunition, especially heavy and large-caliber ammunition, in a short time,” says Jiřà Ginek, chairman of the Czech Defense Industry Association and of security. “A new artillery factory is very simple, but how to produce more artillery shells without raw materials?”, he continues.
Defense industry officials say Europe has limited stocks of explosives such as gunpowder, TNT and nitrocellulose, needed to make projectiles.
“It is impossible to increase the production of nitrocellulose in a short time. . . There are no big producers of the raw materials we need in Europe,” Jiri Ginek told the FT of the shortage of the main gunpowder ingredient.
“It probably takes three years to increase the production of gunpowder,” said the Czech specialist.
State-owned Czech manufacturer Explosia, which is one of Europe’s largest explosives producers, told the FT that its production line for gunpowder used in 155mm artillery mounts is “at full capacity. and will not be extended until 2026.
“Investments are underway to further increase our production capacity, but this is a three-year project, not a multi-month challenge,” company spokesman Martin Wenzl said.
Fábrica Municiones de Granada (FMG), one of Spain’s two manufacturers of 155mm artillery pieces, has been operating at full capacity since last October, producing shells for Ukraine. But Antonio Caro, CEO of FMG, said it took four to five months to reach full production capacity due to difficulties in obtaining key materials and components.
“Our main problem is raw materials. Ammunition deliveries around the world are extremely difficult. All European factories, like us, are 100% loaded,” Antonio Caro told FT.
According to Karo, the cost of basic materials “doubled, and in some cases tripled”, although the price of the final product was not affected as much. According to him, a conventional projectile today costs 850 euros, or about 20% more than before the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
For the moment, FMG, owned by the Slovak group MSM, does not plan any further capacity increase. “I hope the war will end soon,” says Caro.
Other EU countries are also drawing up plans for the production of arms and ammunition. Last week, the Romanian government announced that it was in talks with American and South Korean companies to build a gunpowder factory in the country. The last such factory was closed in the country in 2004.
