On Friday 15 March, the European Commission announced the allocation of €513 million under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) to 31 projects aimed at helping European industry increase its production and preparation of ammunition.
The projects selected in several Member States and Norway cover five areas: mainly explosives and powder - considered bottlenecks for ammunition production - but also shells, missiles and testing and reconditioning certification. The aim is to increase ammunition production capacity to 2 million units a year by the end of 2025.
The programme will provide €124 million to support 7 projects focusing on expanding explosives manufacturing capacity. They will cover both the processing of chemicals and the delivery of the final product for artillery applications. According to the Commission, this should increase production capacity by more than 4,300 tonnes a year, enough to fill 800,000 shells.
Eleven projects involve expanding powder production capacity, including multi-base powders, propellants and compounds such as nitrocellulose, nitroguanidine and nitroglycerine, totalling €248 million. According to the Commission, this will increase annual production by 10,000 tonnes of powder, equivalent to 1.3 million shells.
ASAP will also support seven shell production projects, including the manufacture of shell bodies and assembly, filling and finishing processes. This should increase production capacity by 600,000 shells a year to reach 1.4 to 1.7 million shells a year by the end of 2024, rising above 2 million a year by the beginning of 2026, according to the European Commission.
Five projects focus on missiles, in particular increasing manufacturing capacity for complete missiles, as well as missile components such as propulsion systems.
Finally, the last project will focus on the testing and reconditioning certification of existing stocks of artillery ammunition.
Grant agreements with the selected partners should be signed in May 2024.
See selected projects: https://aeur.eu/f/bco
On the same day, the Commission launched calls for projects under the European defence industry reinforcement through common procurement act (EDIRPA), worth €310 million. The aim is to encourage Member States to acquire defence products together.
The work programme will support joint procurement in three areas: munitions (e.g. small arms, artillery ammunition, mortars, rockets), air and missile defence, and platforms and replacements for existing systems (e.g. tanks, armoured vehicles, support systems, soldier systems, drones). Each area has been allocated €103.2 million.
The deadline for submitting proposals is 25 July 2024.
Finally, the Commission has launched calls for proposals under the European Defence Fund to stimulate research and development projects, totalling €1.1 billion.
The 2024 work programme covers 32 call topics. These include countering hypersonic missiles, developing a series of unmanned vehicles in the air and on land, ensuring secure space communication and the next generation of helicopters and mid-size cargo aircraft.
The deadline for submitting proposals is 5 November 2024.
See details: https://aeur.eu/f/bcp (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)