France Increases Artillery Gunpowder Production

French gunpowder and explosives manufacturer Eurenco will increase production of modular powder charges for artillery to 500,000 units per year.

Thierry Francou, CEO of Eurenco, announced this.

According to the CEO, the company has received orders totaling €1 billion in the last six months alone.

According to the order, the French company will launch production and produce up to 1,200 tons of artillery powder per year at its facilities in Bergerac, in which it has invested over €500 million.

It regards the new Eurenco gunpowder production line, which was laid in mid-April 2024, to meet the growing needs of the EU and Ukraine.

Production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025, with pilot batches to be delivered in the first half of 2025.

Production of 155 mm ammunition

Currently, the bottleneck in the production of artillery ammunition for Europe is the supply of gunpowder. This is currently the largest deficit on the global market.

The 1,200 tons of gunpowder in terms of charges amounts to more than 500,000 modular charges, or, according to Francou, 95,000 “full shots.” The latter involves loading all six modular charges on each projectile.

According to the statements, in 2026, France will produce 1.2 million modular propellant charges or about 200,000 full shots.

At the end of March, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced the intention of the arms industry to release about 100,000 155 mm shells in 2024.

Of the 100,000 of 155-mm artillery rounds, 80,000 should be provided to Ukraine as military aid, and the rest stay in France.

According to Nexter’s plans, the new investments will help the company to increase its capacity and the production of 155-mm ammunition from the current 50,000 to 400,000 “finished rounds” per year in three years.