The French industrial company Eurenco, which produces explosives and gunpowder for artillery ammunition, will move the production of propellant gunpowder for projectiles to Bergerac (Dordogne), the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, announced on Wednesday. “We have decided to transfer a large-caliber gunpowder production capacity to Bergerac in a fairly short horizon (…) with a goal of 1,200 tons of gunpowder per year,” the minister declared during a press conference, justifying the decision due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, among others.
Heir to the National Gunpowder and Explosives Company (SNPE), Eurenco had “rationalized its industrial tool by moving this production to its Swedish site while retaining ownership of technological know-how in France,” a parliamentary report on the ammunition noted. actions published last week. The powder was also purchased from Italian, German and Swiss suppliers.
If the company had been thinking about it since the Covid crisis, “the trigger for the investment was the consumption of shares, not only in France but throughout Europe”, according to the general director of Eurenco, Thierry Francou. Indeed, many countries are supplying Ukraine with 155mm shells to counter the Russian invasion, depleting their already often meager stocks. In France, the president called for entering a “war economy” in order to push manufacturers to increase their capacities to deliver military equipment ever faster.
500,000 loads
Exports, which account for 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 allows us to maintain a sovereign sector is exports”. The start-up of this factory is scheduled for the first half of 2025. The 1,200 tons of gunpowder will allow Eurenco to manufacture 500,000 modular charges, or 95,000 “full shots”, he explained. The investment amounts to 60 million euros, 50 of which will be financed by the company.
A “full shot” consists of a projectile, made in France by Nexter, and modular propellant charges. Depending on the distance to be hit (40 kilometers for a Caesar gun), up to six modular charges are needed per projectile fired. The Ministry of the Armed Forces, for its part, “will trigger purchase prospects on an average basis of 15,000 complete cartridges per year for the French Army” within the framework of the next military programming law (2024-2030), according to Sebastien Lecornu .
Source: BFM TV
