The total investment by the Ministry of Defense of Finland and industry will amount to about 120 million euros. This will allow to increase the production capacity more than twice compared to the current level.
Finland has decided to increase the production of ammunition
On December 12, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkanen signed a document on increasing local ammunition production capacity to enable long-term support for Ukraine.
The press service of the Finnish Ministry of Defense reported this.
The agency has committed to invest about 24 million euros in increasing the production of large-calibre ammunition and obtaining long-term orders from the Finnish industry, enabling the industry to invest independently.
In addition, the Finnish industry can apply to the EU for support within the funding package of the Ammunition Support Regulation, known as ASAP (Ammunition Support Act).
The total investment by the Ministry of Defense of Finland and industry will amount to about 120 million euros. This will allow to increase the production capacity more than twice compared to the current level.
The current decision will significantly increase the capacity for the production of heavy ammunition in Finland, which will enable long-term support of Ukraine until the 2030s. The increase in production is significant on a European scale and will also strengthen Finland's defense capabilities, Häkkanen said.
The Ministry of Defense of Finland emphasizes that the production of ammunition in the country has already increased several times compared to the period before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine.
In addition, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense has placed long-term orders for heavy ammunition in the domestic industry. This allowed the domestic industry to hire additional personnel and increase the production of ammunition at existing facilities, the head of the Finnish MOD added.
Demand for artillery shells, particularly the 155 mm calibre, has increased sharply since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The US and its allies have already sent more than two million such projectiles to Kyiv. Now, Western countries are trying to increase the production of artillery shells to replenish their stocks and provide them to Ukraine.
According to Reuters, the member states of the European Union have transferred to Ukraine only 480,000 of the promised million artillery shells to Ukraine by the spring of 2024.
What is known about Finland's intentions to arrange supplies of ammunition to Ukraine
According to the head of the Ministry of Defense of Finland, Antti Hakkänen, the final decision on the ammunition production for Ukraine should be made in the coming weeks.
In an interview with Iltalehte, Hakkänen noted that Finland intends to increase the production of large-calibre ammunition to meet the needs of the Ukrainian military.
The head of the Ministry of Defense of Finland promised that the decision would be made before Christmas, which would be a natural gift for Ukraine.
