Brussels – Objective: more bullets and ammunition. But not only that. The European Commission is making 500 million euros available to increase the EU’s industrial production in the defense sector: a total of 31 projects to revive the production of explosives, gunpowder, shells, rockets, and test certification. Each area of financial support has specific goals: for explosives, the aim is to increase production capacity by 4,300 tons per year to fill at least 800,000 pieces of ammunition. For powder, the goal of the European executive’s strategy is a 10 thousand tons a year increase to power 1.3 million projectiles; it wants to create 600 thousand more casings to have between 1.4 million and 1.7 million more by the end of the year and exceed 2 million by 2026.
It is the operational step to follow up on the initiative launched in May last year to boost ammunition production. A whole new priority dictated by the need to support Ukraine militarily in its response to Russian aggression: ‘ASAP,’ as the program to revive industrial production in the defense sector is called, now comes into full swing.
A historic, “unprecedented” moment, stresses Thierry Breton, commissioner for Industry. “This is the first time we are using the EU budget to support the defense industry’s production capabilities.” With the disbursement of €500 million, the law supporting munitions production (ASAP, to be exact) “is in effect.”
In the Commission building corridors, however, there is a different, more direct, and no-frills narrative. “We will move from peace mode to war mode,” admits one official. “We are not prescribing anything, but we are encouraging cooperation between states,” since, he explains, “the Commission cannot buy ammunition.” Europe, therefore, aims to rearm. It is the arms race, which began ages ago but was never so explicitly acknowledged as today.
Two of the 31 industrial projects for defense endorsed by the EU are in Italy. Simmed Difesa Spa is to coordinate a project related to the production of powders (41.3 million budget made available), while Baschieri e Pellagri Spa is to coordinate and develop another also for powders for bullets (3.7 million).
With the allocation of this 500 million, the EU contribution for defense rises to two billion euros, considering the contributions from the European Defense Fund (1.2 billion) and the EDIRPA program for joint procurement (300 million). These are only EU funds with which the Commission intends, through leverage, to intercept more in the market.
In the case of the ASAP munitions program alone, from the 500 million allocated, the EU counts on reaching a total investment of about 1.4 billion euros in the supply chain.
“These are important steps to invest more, better, together, in Europe,” stressed Margrethe Vestager, responsible for Competition and Digital. This funding “shows the potential of the recently proposed European defense industry program and contributes to our efforts to support Ukraine.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
