EU allocates $545M to boost ammunition production

ATHENS

With the Russia-Ukraine war now into its third year, the EU on Friday announced that it had allocated €500 million ($545 million) to boost ammunition production.

The EU Commission said in a statement that the move, taken under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP), would enable the European defense industry to ramp up its ammunition production capacity to 2 million shells per year by the end of 2025.

It added: “The Commission completed the evaluation under the ASAP Regulation in record time and selected 31 projects to assist European industry in increasing its ammunition production and readiness.”

“Thanks to measures already taken, European annual production capacity for 155 mm shells had already reached 1 million per year in January 2024,” it said.

With the ongoing war in Ukraine using up large amounts of ammunition, production has fallen short, as the NATO secretary general said Thursday.

Jens Stoltenberg, chief of the alliance, whose membership largely overlaps the EU’s, said on Thursday: "NATO allies are not providing Ukraine with enough ammunition and that has consequences on the battlefield every day. The fact that the Russians are able to outgun the Ukrainians every day, of course, is a huge challenge, it is one of the reasons why the Russians have been able to make some advances on the battlefield over the last weeks and months."

He urged the allies "to step up and provide more ammunition to Ukraine."