Josep Borrell launched an "alert" to the members of the European Union: the lack of stocks of ammunition in warehouses. After the now historic belief that conventional wars would no longer be fought in Europe, Russia's invasion of Ukraine highlighted the urgent need for the armies of the allied countries to have more ammunition in their reserves.
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The figures provided by the High Commissioner of the European Union are clear: Russia fires 50.000 rounds a day, the equivalent of Europe's monthly output.
For this Borrell has urged the allies to supply more ammunition to Ukraine. The various ministries of defense have therefore implemented strategies to fill their depots.
Last December 7th the Spanish defense signed with the We were born Palencia an agreement worth 7,6 million euros to create a strategic reserve of ammunition (in particular 5,56×45 mm NATO cartridges).
These are standard cartridges for NATO weapons that armies use for their rifles. In the case of Spain, they are compatible with HK6i, HK416 rifles and HKMG4 light machine guns. As the Spanish Association of Cartridge Collectors explains, this type of ammunition replaced the ammunition dating back to the 60s – 7,62×51 caliber for the AK47. The Association has shown that in modern warfare it is more effective to carry more projectiles, even if less powerful: “With this modern type of cartridges, each soldier can carry more than double the ammunition without increasing either the weight or the volume carried”.
A few months ago, Teodoro López Calderón, Chief of the Defense Staff, said, speaking to the Congress of Deputies, that the Ministry was making a very important investment in munitions to raise defense stockpiles.
Thus, at the end of March last year, one month after the start of the war, a contract of less than 627.000 euros was awarded.
In Spain there are three factories involved in the production of ammunition. There Explosives, recently acquired by the German company Rheinmetall which produces large-caliber ammunition. There Munitions Factory of Granada which offers a wide variety of large caliber ammunition manufactured according to NATO standards – they produce 120mm cartridges compatible with the Reinhmetall Leopard cannons that Spain is about to send to Ukraine.
The Defense also approved a 2,9 million euro contract for the supply of 9x19mm Parabellum bullets for NATO handguns and machine guns. However, this contract does not mention a strategic reserve of ammunition, but responds to the need to have more shells. The contract provides for the production of approximately 15 million cartridges.
For the strategic ammunition reserve, the Spanish army has just finalized a contract for 36,3 million with the Santa Barbara, the same company that is updating the Leopards, to mount the 155/52 howitzers. It is a field artillery weapon, capable of firing up to eight rounds per minute, of which the Army has 86 rounds.