Europe faces a shortage of gunpowder and TNT for shell production, Bloomberg reports.
“European governments have been digging through their ammunition stockpiles to arm Ukraine, revealing how meager their reserves are. Since then, they have been trying to ramp up production of artillery shells, missiles, and cartridges. This has depleted stocks of gunpowder, TNT, other explosives, and rocket fuel,” the publication says.
Companies are trying to ramp up production, but even these efforts may not be enough. For example, the German concern Rheinmetall plans to increase gunpowder production by 50% by 2028, but the company’s CEO Armin Papperger believes that this target will need to be increased to 100%.
An obstacle to such a large-scale increase in production may be Europe’s dependence on raw materials from abroad. In particular, European manufacturers import nitric acid and nitrocellulose, which are needed to produce explosives and rocket fuel, from China.
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