The European Commission has allocated €500 million to increase the production of ammunition as part of its support for the European defense industry.

Militarnyi reported on this with reference to the website of the EU executive body.

The announcement was made on Friday, March 15.

This will allow the European defense industry to increase the production of ammunition to 2 million shells per year by the end of 2025.

The European Commission has also launched a program to strengthen the capabilities of the European defense industry through joint procurement (EDIRPA) and the fourth annual work program under the European Defense Fund (EDF). In total, these programs provide for a budget for the production of ammunition and weapons worth almost €2 billion.

The Commission allocated the €500 million foreseen under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP). The funding covers investment projects in five areas: increasing the production of explosives, gunpowder, shells, and missiles, as well as testing, certification, and repair of ammunition.

As part of ASAP, 31 projects were selected to stimulate an increase in the production of ammunition and missiles in the European Union. Not only the EU, but also Norway allocates money to implement these projects. The total amount is €513 million.

This financing will facilitate additional industry investment through co-financing, bringing the total investment to around €1.4 billion in the supply chain.

The European Commission said in a statement that the ASAP was focusing on powder and explosives, which were bottlenecks for ammunition shell production, and would allocate some three quarters of the programme to them.

The programme will support projects in the increasing the annual production capacity by more than 10 000 tons of powder, and by more than 4 300 tons of explosives.

As part of this program, the European Union is investing €248 million in the development of powder production and another €124 million in the production of explosives.

It is also noted that thanks to the implemented measures, the European defense industry in January this year reached the capacity to produce 1 million shells per year.