Nammo: A break with the US would leave Europe with capability gaps for years — Breaking Defense
In Raufoss, Norway, Morten Brandtzeg, CEO of the defense company Nammo, said that ending industrial cooperation between Europe and the United States could leave European allies without certain capabilities that would take five to ten years to replace. Breaking Defense reports.
According to Brandtzeg, Nammo supplies rocket motors for Raytheon-produced American AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. He said that without these supplies, European F-35 fighter jets could not be equipped with such missiles. The Nammo chief called the destruction of this supply chain counterproductive, as the allies’ industrial base is already closely interconnected.
Rocket motors
Brandtzeg called for preventing short-term political turbulence from destroying decades of industrial cooperation between Europe and the United States. He advocated close cooperation among all NATO countries and other allied states, calling it one of the ways to strengthen deterrence.
Nammo, he said, is ready to increase production of solid-fuel rocket motors in the United States if necessary, including by investing in its production site in Perry, Florida. The company has also launched a third rocket motor production line in Raufoss and expects to double the scale of this site by 2032.
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Production of 155 mm shells
Nammo is increasing output of 155 mm artillery shells, but Brandtzeg noted that the pace of production expansion is still insufficient. According to him, European armies’ stockpiles have not yet been restored, as all 155 mm shells produced by the company are currently supplied to Ukraine amid the war unleashed by the Russian Federation, an aggressor state.
At the end of the year, Nammo plans to open a new state-of-the-art production facility worth $180 million, with production there set to begin in 2027. Brandtzeg said that building such a plant takes two to three years, while its output would be sufficient for only seven days of Ukraine’s needs.
Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the UK’s Royal United Services Institute, warned that new orders for 155 mm ammunition would not solve the problem without increasing production of nitrocellulose and explosives, as well as ensuring supplies of nitric acid. He also drew attention to the complexity and cost associated with obtaining permits to build propellant production plants.
