The European Commission announced on Friday the allocation of €500 million under the "ASAP" law to support ammunition production within member states, allowing the European defense industry to increase its ammunition production capacity to two million shells annually by the end of 2025.
According to a statement released on its official website, the Commission also launched the work program for the European Defense Industry Enhancement Tool through the European Defence Industry Purchasing Policy (EDIRPA) and the fourth annual work program for the European Defence Fund (EDF).
The combined budget for these programs amounts to approximately €2 billion.
Today's steps aim to strengthen the European defense technological and industrial base following the adoption of the first-ever European Defence Industrial Strategy, known as "EDIS," and the associated European Defence Industrial Programme "EDIP."
The Commission emphasized that once the €500 million allocation to increase ammunition production capacity to two million annually is supported by the ASAP program, Europe is expected to reach an annual ammunition production capacity of two million shells by the end of 2025.
It completed the assessment under the ASAP regulation in record time and selected 31 projects to assist the European industry in increasing ammunition production and readiness.
The selected projects cover five areas, including explosives, propellants, shells, missiles, testing certification, and refurbishment.
These projects will be funded with €513 million from the European Union and Norwegian budgets.
This funding will leverage additional investments from the industry through co-financing, resulting in a total investment of approximately €1.4 billion in the supply chain.
The program focuses on propellants and explosives, which pose hurdles in ammunition production. About three-quarters of the program will be dedicated to these areas.
The program will support projects increasing annual production capacity by over 10,000 tons of propellants and over 4,300 tons of explosives.
For this purpose, the Union will invest €248 million in powder manufacturing capacity and €124 million in explosive manufacturing capacity. Thanks to measures already taken, European annual production capacity for 155mm shells reached one million in January 2024.
The Commission noted that by allocating a total budget of €310 million, the EDIRPA work program will support joint procurement in three areas: ammunition production used in small arms manufacturing, artillery ammunition, mortar shells, rockets, enhancing air and missile defense industries, developing platforms, and replacing obsolete systems for various weapons such as tanks, armored vehicles, support systems, soldier systems, and unmanned aircraft.
These funding priorities were identified in cooperation with the member states to meet urgent defense needs and renew defense stocks.
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