TNT wanted: Europe’s ammunition push is missing its explosive core

Europe’s grand plans to surge ammunition production hinge on a single factory in central Poland – the only place in the EU that still makes trinitrotoluene, or TNT, the explosive core of most weapons production. 

Since Russia’s war on Ukraine, Europeans have scrambled to fire back up munitions production lines, left to wither during years of peace on the continent. But producers have struggled to suddenly crank out millions more artillery shells and other weaponry.

The kind of grinding warfare being waged in Ukraine, with huge volumes of artillery being fired by both sides, has illustrated how essential a strong European defence industrial base would be in facing down the Russian threat.

But TNT production is heavily polluting, toxic and energy-intensive, and for decades, Europe has outsourced that 'dirty' work elsewhere – particularly to China, Turkey, the Balkans, and Ukraine – until only the Nitro-Chem plant in Bydgoszcz, Poland, remained.

That may have seemed a fine solution in times of peace. But after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, such global supply chains have proved both a major bottleneck and a strategic vulnerability.

“Europe has very limited production capacity with just Nitro-Chem," said Romain de Calbiac from C&V Defence, which helps defence manufacturers break into the EU market. Nitro-Chem is overwhelmed with orders, he added.    

Europe's TNT dilemma is a particularly acute example of broader difficulties facing the Europeans as they try to replenish their neglected military stocks while supplying the Ukrainian forces.

Some other key chemicals used to make artillery ammunition, such as the propellants used to fire the shells, are also in similarly short supply, posing additional strain on supply chains.

Like with TNT, propellant factories gradually shut down after the Cold War as governments cashed in on peace dividends, said Thierry Francou, the CEO of Eurenco, a French propellant and military fuels manufacturer.

While hard numbers are kept confidential, experts see Russia’s artillery firing rate averaging 10,000 rounds per day, or more than 3.6 million a year.

Kyiv has struggled to secure enough ammunition to adequately respond while pleading with Western supporters for more supplies, limiting Ukrainian artillery fire to an estimated 1,800 to 6,000 rounds per day.

By contrast, the Commission set an EU-wide production target of 2 million rounds of artillery ammunition for 2025 as part of its €500 million Act in Support of Ammunition (ASAP). That stands far below Russia's current production capabilities, which have been bolstered by supplies from allies like North Korea.

New TNT producers in the works

Europe is pouring public and private investments into a handful of new TNT production facilities.

Yet, companies seeking to open new TNT production lines are confronted with an array of issues, including a time-consuming permitting process. The manufacturing process has high safety and environmental risks, given that it uses a cocktail of highly toxic chemicals.

That also means new plants are subject to strict security rules, and often need to be located on sites away from big population centres.

In January, the Finnish defence ministry signed over €255 million in long-term contracts with explosives producer Forcit to build a new plant in the town of Pori – but production is first expected to hit the market in 2028.

Sweden Ballistics (Swebal) plans to invest about €71 million in its own project in the town of Nora, about 200 kilometres west of Stockholm. The plant is expected to start producing TNT in 2027.

Restarting old plants

To avoid some of the regulatory hurdles of building new factories, munitions producers like the Czech arms maker Czechoslovak Group (CSG) have turned to mothballed plants that were shuttered after the Cold War when demand for artillery shells, bombs and other explosives collapsed.

“It is almost unimaginable to build a TNT plant from scratch in Europe” because of the numerous permits, said Andrej Čírtek, a CSG spokesperson.

Among CSG's current projects is an effort to restart TNT production at a plant in the Greek town of Lavrio as part of a joint venture with Greek defence contractor Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS). 

But even mothballed factories can take years to reopen. French powder manufacturer Eurenco, for example, sought to revive its propellant manufacturing plant in the French town of Bergerac, a production line that has stood idle since 2007.

Work began in 2023, but French environmental laws meant it took an entire year just to get construction underway. The site only reopened in March 2025.

Europe stalling?

The Commission has put some money on the table to help break those bottlenecks, including supporting the reopening of the CSG and EAS’s TNT plant in Lavrio with about €23 million from the ASAP initiative. 

It has also pitched a mechanism to secure critical materials for the European defence industry in times of high demand as part of its European Defence Industrial Programme (EDIP), which could help address the continent-wide TNT shortage.

Technical trilogue talks on the programme started on Thursday, following an initial round of political discussions between MEPs and Council representatives earlier this week. The programme was first pitched in March 2024.

Capitals low on cash

Regardless of the EU schemes in the pipeline, stockpiling requires member states to step up their spending at a time of budget austerity. Arms makers are asking governments for long-term commitments to buy ammunition, which would make it easier to invest in new facilities and secure financing for expansion.  

“Stepping up production is expensive, so we need long-term visibility from countries," Belgian arms maker FN Herstal said. The company pointed to a 20-year partnership with the Belgian government signed in 2023 which gave the company enough guarantees to invest €100 million in new production lines.

But a number of munitions manufacturers say that, despite pledges of higher defence spending, there haven't been enough similar deals actually signed by European militaries.

(bts, mm)