The European war industry is unable to maintain the production rates imposed by the war in Ukraine. Led by Volodymyr Zelensky, the country fires more than 5,000 shells a day to defend itself against Russian invasion. it explained Finance Timesan amount equivalent to a year’s military orders from several European countries.
Hence a crisis in the supply chain in the EU armaments sector, which has been under pressure in recent months for supplies sent to Kiev and the demand for more ammunition to defend Ukraine, which has increased the need not to abandon other arsenals of the former Continent.
The alarm raised by the City of London newspaper about the difficulties of the war industry certainly did not surprise officials of the European External Action Service. The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, warned Europe two months ago of the risk of running out of arms and ammunition in an increasingly unstable geopolitical context. “In the ten months of the war, support for Ukraine showed that our stocks were fragile and inadequate and our supply chains unsuitable,” Borrell said on 8 December. “We contacted many representatives of the defense industry, asking the relevant companies to provide information on their production capacity. We did the same for vaccines months ago,” recalled the Commission’s vice-president.
Borrell assured that Europe “has the money” to introduce “a new EU tool to facilitate and promote joint procurement” in the military sector. The plan will be financed with 500 million euros for the period 2022-24. However, this answer may not be enough.
In fact, the war industry is short of liquidity, not raw materials. The war in Ukraine has led to a struggle for chemicals, metals, detonators and plastics for shell casings for explosives. “A particular challenge — the war industry uses small amounts to make explosives, but is also a key ingredient in fertilizer production,” explains the Financial Times. Hence the challenges that will require more effort than the simple allocation of financial resources.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
