PARIS — Denmark picked Norwegian ammunition maker Nammo to restart a shuttered ammo plant for production of small- and large-caliber ammunition, the country’s defense ministry said.
Nammo can begin producing ammunition for the Danish forces and others at the shuttered plant in northern Denmark as soon as the production facilities are set up, Denmark’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Friday. Final negotiations with Nammo are still pending, including a timetable on when actual ammunition production will start.
The deteriorating security situation, the war in Ukraine and an updated threat assessment by the Danish Defense Intelligence Service “emphasize the importance of ensuring future ammunition production in Denmark,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poelsen said. “This will make a difference to the security of supply for Denmark, the Nordic region and Europe.”
However, ammunition stocks are needed now, and Denmark plans to rapidly build up its stock of mortar and artillery shells even before production can start at Elling, partly to match an assessment of Russia’s potential build-up of combat power, the ministry said.
Lund Poelsen said it’s crucial to start building up the Danish Armed Forces’ ammunition stockpiles as soon as possible, and he will decide on action in the short term “together with the parties.”
The Danish government last month agreed to allocate an additional 50 billion Danish kroner ($7 billion) to defense over the coming two years, boosting defense spending to more than 3% of GDP in 2025 and 2026.
Denmark agreed to buy the shuttered facilities at Elling in northern Jutland in October 2023, with the stated aim of exploring options for establishing domestic ammunition production. The country had sold the ammunition production activities to Expal in 2008, and the company ceased production at the site in 2020 after several years of losses.
The ammunition plant at Elling traces its roots back to the Fyrværkerikompagniet set up in Copenhagen in 1676.
Nammo will produce 155 mm and 120 mm shells at the Elling plant, as well as 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm caliber cartridges, the ministry said. All four are NATO standard calibers.
“Nammo has what it takes to become a long-term and solid partner for Denmark, with deep industrial and technical expertise, established supply chains, and solid Norwegian-Finnish ownership to bolster lasting Nordic cooperation,” Nammo CEO Morten Brandtzæg said in a statement. “We look forward to finalizing an agreement to get production started.”
The Norwegian company says it’s working on improving ammunition interchangeability in the Nordic region, and that will improve with new production in Denmark.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 exposed European shortcomings in ammunition manufacturing, with facilities shuttered or scaled down due to lack of demand after the end of the Cold War. Ukraine has at times faced artillery shell shortages as its allies depleted stocks and struggled to ramp up production, though the European Union now expects to produce 2 million shells by the end of 2025, double the pace from a year ago.
Nammo is jointly owned by the Norwegian state and Finland’s Patria, with the latter owned for 50.1% by the Finnish state and the remainder held by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. Kongsberg in turn is 50.1% owned by the Norwegian state.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
Read the full article here
