Norway will spend $180 million on shell production; the supplies will last Ukraine one week
Norwegian ammunition manufacturer NAMMO plans to spend $180 million on the construction of a new plant to produce 155-mm artillery shells. However, even after the new facilities come online, their output will be sufficient to meet Ukraine’s needs for only about seven days.
According to him, the new facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2027, and the new production line is expected to open in late 2026. Construction of the plant will take about two to three years.
“We are building a new plant; it will take two to three years, and its output will be enough for only seven days in Ukraine,” Brandzeg said.
The company’s CEO noted that there is currently no discussion of replenishing European countries’ stocks of 155-mm ammunition, as all production is being directed to Ukraine.
“The replenishment of 155-mm ammunition stocks for European armies is not yet taking place, since everything we produce goes to Ukraine,” explained Morten Brandtsæg.
According to NAMMO’s assessment, even the scaling up of production demonstrates just how severe the shortage of artillery ammunition remains in Europe amid Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Norwegian company NAMMO is one of Europe’s manufacturers of large-caliber ammunition. The new production facilities are expected to increase the output of 155-mm shells.
Defense Express notes that NAMMO has a wide range of 155-mm ammunition. In particular, the company produces high-explosive fragmentation shells with a range of about 24 km, as well as long-range ammunition capable of striking targets at distances of over 30 and 40 km, depending on the variant.
In June 2026, Defense Express reported that Ukraine had stopped purchasing obsolete M107 155-mm shells and was focusing on extended-range ammunition, specifically the ERFB type.
That is why, according to the publication’s assessment, NAMMO’s capabilities in the production of long-range artillery ammunition could be important for the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
Despite significant investments and a construction period spanning several years, the production capacity of NAMMO’s new facility will only cover approximately seven days of Ukraine’s consumption of 155-mm shells.
This highlights the scale of Ukraine’s need for artillery ammunition and the overall shortage of production capacity in Western countries.
According to Defense Express, global production capacity for long-range 155-mm ammunition remains limited. The publication also notes that even a significant increase in production by individual European companies does not yet meet Ukraine’s needs.
At the same time, Ukraine and Norway are already working on the joint production of long-range 155-mm artillery shells, and NAMMO is considered one of the key players in this effort.
Morten Brandzeg, the company’s CEO, told Breaking Defense about this.
The German defense conglomerate Rheinmetall has delivered to Ukraine the first batch of 155-mm artillery shells manufactured at the company’s new “Werk Niedersachsen” plant in Unterlüsse, Lower Saxony, Germany.
In the U.S., a $533 million project to produce artillery shells for Ukraine has failed. As of July 2026, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had not received a single piece of usable ammunition.
