EU moves to increase ammunition production

The European Commission pledged €500 million to boost the production of ammunition in Europe on Wednesday in a bid to meet the needs of Ukraine and replenish the depleted arsenals of member states.

The plan, which still requires European Parliament and member state approval, is a response to concerns that the combined production capacity for ammunition of the EU is insufficient to meet the requirements of Ukraine’s army to continue to fight off Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine’s armed forces rely on the Soviet-era 155mm and similar 152mm artillery shells, which are shot by large howitzer guns to hit targets as far as 30km away. They fire as many as 8,000 shells a day, while Russia fires 40,000, Ukraine parliamentary member Oleksandra Ustinova said in Washington last month.

A widely-anticipated spring offensive by Kyiv to recover territory seized by Moscow is expected to increase firing further. This demand far exceeds the production capacities of both the United States and the EU, and member states have depleted their own stocks of ammunition and weaponry through transfers to Ukraine.

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EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said he had visited defence production facilities in 11 member states that have the ability to produce the shells. “The will is there, but they’re not ready yet in practice,” he said.

Taking into account lessons learned in ramping up vaccine production during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said that the production within the EU should be able to be scaled up to be able to produce one million rounds annually within 12 months. He told reporters it was time for the EU’s defence industry to “switch to war economy mode”.

“The factories are already there, the premises are there, it’s just a question of ramping up production.”

The proposed Act in Support of Ammunition Production would incentivise defence companies to increase their production by offering subsidise up to 60 per cent of selected projects. Total funding would be €500 million, taken from existing items in the EU budget earmarked for defence.

An emergency plan which would run for one year, it would also allow member states to redirect Covid-19 recovery funds and regional development funding into such projects. These could includes efforts to expand, modernise, or upgrade factories, build new ones, establish cross-border partnerships, bring “surge” manufacturing capacities into action, train workers, and work to upgrade existing ammunition and missiles that may have degraded to make them usable.

The legislation would put in place information-gathering structures to try to avoid bottlenecks developing in supply chains, and to ensure the security of supply.

It would also allow member states to build back up their own arsenals following transfers to Ukraine. “We have to produce more to compensate for the destocking,” Mr Breton said.

To coordinate and get better terms the EU also plans to jointly negotiate ammunition contracts, again taking inspiration from joint vaccine purchases during the pandemic.