Europe faced a shortage of explosives during the production of weapons for Ukraine.
This is stated in the Financial Times article.
According to officials and manufacturers, due to limited supplies of gunpowder, plastic explosives and TNT, the industry cannot quickly fulfill the EU order for Ukraine — regardless of how much money is allocated to solve the problem.
"The fundamental problem is that the European defense industry is not capable of large-scale military production," said one German official.
Defense industry officials say Europe has limited supplies of explosives such as gunpowder, TNT and nitrocellulose, which are needed to make the projectiles. "The bottleneck for our capabilities is mainly the [explosive] powders, which are in short supply throughout Europe," one of them said.
"It is impossible to increase [the production of] nitrocellulose in a short period of time. There are no large producers of the raw materials we need in Europe. If I want to increase the production of gunpowder, I probably need three years," said Jiri Hinek, head of the Association of Defense and Security Industry of the Czech Republic, referring to the main ingredient of gunpowder.
Explosia, a Czech state-owned manufacturer that is one of Europeʼs largest suppliers of explosives to munitions factories, told the FT that its production of gunpowder used in 155mm artillery pieces is "running at full capacity" and will not increase until 2026 year The company is being invested in to further increase its capacity, but this is a three-year project, not a job for a few months.
Fábrica Municiones de Granada (one of two Spanish manufacturers of 155mm artillery guns) has been operating at full capacity since October 2022, producing shells for a trading company that sells them to Ukraine. However, according to the general director, it will take four to five months to scale up due to difficulties in obtaining basic materials and components.
This week, Romaniaʼs government said it was in talks with American and South Korean companies to build a gunpowder plant in the country. The last such plant was closed in 2004.
- NATO plans to urge its members to increase their stockpiles of ammunition due to aid costs to Ukraine. They also note that the former reserves are not enough in the event of a full-scale conflict.
- In January 2023, France and Australia announced plans for the joint production of 155-mm ammunition for Ukraine. Australia will supply the gunpowder, while the French arms and military equipment manufacturer Nexter will produce the ammunition.