The European Union has pledged to make €500 million available to boost the capacity of its defence industry to produce two million artillery shells annually by 2025, in response to Ukraine’s urgent request amid its defence against Russia.
The EU has affirmed its intention to allocate approximately €2 billion overall towards strengthening its defence capabilities. These funds would be distributed through several pre-existing European programmes, according to an official statement from the European Commission.
Out of the total €2 billion, €500 million has been earmarked for the manufacture of artillery shells, which Ukrainian forces severely lack in their stand against Russia.
The European Commission has pinpointed 31 projects across the EU and Norway that combined should double Europe’s production capacity of these munitions. The current production capacity (at the end of January) for 155mm shells – those frequently used in Ukraine – stood at one million annually.
Most of these projects will focus on producing powder and explosives, the components that Europe lacks most.
The production site of the arms company Mecar, in Petit-Roeulx-lez-Nivelles, October 2023. Credit: Belga / Gregory Ienco
After more than two years of war, the Ukrainian army suffers from a shortage in personnel and is requesting more ammunition and air defence systems to withstand the advancing Russian army.
For the past two years, the EU has attempted to increase its military support to Ukraine. However, it has repeatedly faced insufficient production capacities, particularly for artillery shells – which are critical in this war of attrition.
Last year, Europeans pledged a million shells for Ukraine by the end of March 2024. But European officials have conceded that this goal will not be met. However they gave assurances that this will be achieved by the end of the year.
On Wednesday, the 27 EU Member States also reached an agreement to add €5 billion to a fund intended to finance the purchase of weapons for Ukraine. In parallel, Russia has put its economy on a war footing and received hundreds of thousands of shells from North Korea.
