The Danish Ministry of Defense announced that it purchased a property in northern Denmark to restart domestic ammunition manufacturing.
The ministry bought the “Krudten” industrial park in Elling, which historically housed Denmark’s sole ammunition factory until production stopped in 1968. The first factory in that place functioned from as early as 1676. It was sold by the government in 2008 but has now been purchased back.
The ministry said that the need to reestablish ammunition production has become urgent due to supply constraints caused by the Russian war against Ukraine.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now lasting one and a half years, has put ammunition production in Europe under severe pressure,” said Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen. “The critical situation has highlighted the need for us to reestablish ammunition production in Denmark, which we are now taking the first step toward.“
Poulsen stated that steady ammunition supplies are in Denmark’s national security interest. The purchase aims to eventually manufacture munitions to meet Denmark’s needs, although the minister noted it will take time to set up production lines. He didn’t specify what type of ammunition would be produced in the factory.
There will probably be several private companies that will produce ammunition at “Krudten” in Elling, Poulsen announced at Saturday’s press conference in Elling, where he also thanked the local commitment of Mayor Birgit S. Hansen and Frederikshavn City Council.
Denmark has collaborated with European allies to supply ammunition to Ukraine, including the most recent 100 million Danish krone contribution to a joint donation of artillery ammunition.
As was reported earlier, Ukraine also started its own production of artillery ammunition in late 2022, already after Russia attacked it in February. In 2023, Ukraine scaled up the production in cooperation with undisclosed neighboring states several times. However, it is still far from meeting all the needs of the army in a war of that massive scale, which has been ongoing for 19 months already without any decrease in ammunition consumption and intensity of fire.
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