Who wants peace prepares for war. The reindustrialization of products manufactured on the territory is also an issue for national defence. The French industrialist Eurenco, which produces explosives and powders for artillery ammunition, will thus relocate to Bergerac (Dordogne) the production of propellant powder for shells, announced Wednesday the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu.
Many countries are supplying 155mm shells to Ukraine, emptying their already often tight stocks. In France, President Emmanuel Macron has called for entering a “war economy”, pushing manufacturers to produce more and faster, in particular the highly demanded Caesar guns.
VIDEO. “It’s an extremely effective weapon”: France delivers a dozen Caesar guns to Ukraine
“There is no scenario in which we should not accelerate and secure the production of ammunition. This is true because Ukraine will experience significant needs in the weeks and months to come or to replenish the stocks of the armies”, estimated Mr. Lecornu. The Secretary General of NATO himself expressed concern last week that Ukraine is consuming munitions at a rate higher than the production capacity of NATO countries.
Heir to the National Company of Powders and Explosives (SNPE), the public company Eurenco will therefore invest 60 million euros, 50 of which will be self-financed, on its Bergerac site. The manufacturer now produces this powder in Sweden, and buys it from Italian, German and Swiss suppliers. If the company had been thinking about it since the pandemic, “the trigger for the investment was the consumption of stocks, not only in France but everywhere in Europe”, according to the CEO of Eurenco, Thierry Francou.
Export, which constitutes two-thirds of Eurenco’s turnover, “will be sustained for the next ten years. Today I have firm orders until 2027”, affirmed the CEO, noting that “what makes it possible to maintain a sovereign sector is export”.
Missiles Mistral
The new factory is expected to open in the first half of 2025. The 1,200 tonnes of propellant powder will allow Eurenco to manufacture 500,000 modular charges, or 95,000 “full shots”, he detailed. A “complete shot” consists of a shell, manufactured in France by Nexter, and modular propellant charges produced by Eurenco. Depending on the distance to be reached – 40 km for a Caesar gun – it takes up to six modular charges per shell fired.
The Ministry of the Armed Forces for its part will “trigger purchasing prospects on an average basis of 15,000 complete rounds per year for the French Army” within the framework of the next military programming law (2024-2030), according to Mr. Lecornu. In 2023, France is to receive 10,000 155 mm shells, a volume light years away from the consumption observed in Ukraine: the Russians fired up to 50,000 shells per day in July, the Ukrainians up to 6,000, according to a French military source.
As part of the ongoing “war economy” project, the Minister also announced that he had commissioned the Inspector General of the Armed Forces Monique Legrand-Larroche to assess the means of accelerating the maintenance and production of Caesar guns, export success and of which 49 examples have been or will be supplied to Ukraine. Its manufacturer Nexter has already increased production from 2 to 4 guns per month. It should increase to 6 Caesar each month by the end of the year and eight during 2024, according to the manufacturer.
The former General Delegate for Armaments (DGA) Laurent Collet-Billon was tasked with “coordinating industrial activities to increase production rates” of 155 mm shells and short-range Mistral surface-to-air missiles, produced by MBDA. “This is the segment where the needs are the greatest”, in particular because of transfers made to Ukraine, according to the minister.
Mistral’s production was 20 units per month in 2022. “For 2023, we are already at 30 units and the objective for 2025 is 40 units per month and all of this should be made more reliable” according to the Minister, who wishes by elsewhere see the production lead time for the longer-range Aster missile drop from 40 to 18 months.