The Danish government is seeking to increase ammunition production and plans to buy land with an old ammunition factory to help Ukraine, Euractiv informs.
Liberal Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen has launched the initiative to buy the land of a former ammunition factory in Elling, northeastern Denmark. He hopes to help NATO countries to overcome the current ammunition shortage.
If we succeed in creating a model where the Ministry of Defence can facilitate the acquisition of the buildings and private companies can produce, I believe that we will be able to produce in Denmark within the next few years.
The Elling ammunition factory was sold to Spanish ammunition manufacturer Expal in 2008. It ceased production in 2020 due to a multi-million dollar shortfall.
“What is important today is that many countries also want to take stock of what is needed. I think we can say that ammunition is absolutely essential in the short term.”
The statement followed a report last week by Norwegian Defence Minister Eirik Kristoffersen, who stated NATO had a huge need for ammunition.
Other defense officials are concerned that the lack of production capacity has led to longer delivery times and higher prices for materials and ammunition.
Rob Bauer, chairman of the NATO Military Committee and senior military adviser to NATO Secretary General, said that the prices were rising, however, supply levels remained the same.
Right now, we are paying more and more for exactly the same thing. This means that we cannot be sure that increased defence spending will actually lead to increased security.
