Poland aiming to ramp up ammunition production

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland wants to ramp up its production of 155 mm artillery rounds in the hope of ensuring sufficient supplies if Russia attacked NATO, a senior official has said.

Some NATO officials say the Kremlin might be ready militarily to attack NATO countries in five to eight years' time, once it has rebuilt its forces after the war in Ukraine. Moscow has regularly dismissed Western suggestions that it might consider an attack on NATO.

"Our ambition ... is to have the ability to fill up Polish warehouses in parallel to achieving a full, independent capacity to produce ammunition in Poland, within five to eight years," Maciej Idzik, board member of the state-owned Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), told Reuters.

Demand for 155 mm artillery rounds has soared in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Allies' supplies for their own defence have been run down as they have rushed shells to Kyiv.

Like many of its allies, Poland has sent some of its own stock of 155s to Ukraine. It lacks the capacity to produce the rounds from scratch and, instead, is assembling them from purchased components.

Idzik said PGZ still needed 24 months to launch production of all the necessary parts, and aimed to be able to turn out about 100,000 per year.

One of the elements missing from Poland's capability is the means to make multi-base propellant, with Poland considering either purchasing the technology needed for production or setting up a joint venture with an already established producer.

While Idzik said he "would prefer that we were the direct owner", a joint venture would give Poland rights to sell its produced shells abroad.

The European Union is seeking to expand the bloc's ammunition production capacity to 2 million shells annually by the end of 2025 by allocating 500 million euros ($552 million) in funding to increase shell supplies to Ukraine and replenish EU stockpiles.

"The ambition of Poland, but also of PGZ in this context, is for the warehouses to be full and for there to be enough ammunition to repel the enemy," said Idzik, pointing at Russia and its allies.

Poland's 2025 budget envisages record defence spending of 186.6 billion zlotys ($48.19 billion), 4.7% of GDP.

($1 = 3.8722 zlotys)

($1 = 0.9051 euros)

(Reporting by Barbara Erling; Editing by Alison Williams)