European Commission allocates €500 million for companies to increase ammunition production

The European Commission has announced the allocation of €500 million to European companies for extending their ammunition production capacities under a scheme that will allow increasing ammunition supplies to Ukraine and replenishing the stocks of EU countries.

Source: European Pravda with reference to the statement of the European Commission  

Details: It is expected that, with the support of the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP), Europe will achieve an annual production volume of 2 million rounds by the end of 2025.

Quote: "Today, the Commission allocated the €500 million foreseen under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP). This will allow the European defence industry to ramp up its ammunition production capacity to 2 million shells per year by the end of 2025."

The Commission has selected 31 projects in order to help the European industry extend ammunition production and increase its readiness.

The selected projects cover five sectors: explosives, gunpowder, and projectiles, as well as test and recovery certification. €513 million from the budgets of the EU and Norway will be allocated for the implementation of the projects. This funding will involve additional investments from the industry on the terms of joint funding, as a result of which the total amount of investments into the supply chain will be approximately €1.4 billion.

Thanks to the measures already taken, European annual production capacities in the manufacturing of 155-mm projectiles had reached 1 million per year in January 2024.

Companies receiving ASAP funding and their supply chains are located across the European Union. The support is provided to strengthen the existing production capacities and develop new ones. The finished projects will increase the efficiency and capacity of the EU defence industry, which will facilitate a quicker supply of ammunition and missiles to Europe.

It is expected that grant agreements with selected companies will be signed in May 2024.

Background:

• Earlier, it was reported that Portugal had joined the Czech Initiative and would provide €100 million for the purchase of large-calibre artillery ammunition for Ukraine.
• In addition to the commitment to purchase 300,000 artillery shells for Ukraine under a Czech-led initiative, Prague received preliminary approval to purchase an additional 200,000 shells.
• At the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel announced that Czechia had found up to 800,000 NATO standard-calibre shells that could be sent to Ukraine in a few weeks if funding was raised.

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