Warsaw: Seeking higher domestic ammunition production capacities, the Estonian government has approved a project to build a plant that will make RDX-type explosives.
The investment is considered as key for the country’s plans to boost its 155mm artillery ammunition production capabilities, but also for exporting explosives to other countries facing shortages across the region, according to senior officials.
Estonia’s authorities have authorised the Ministry of Finance to set up a new company, Hexest AS, that is to be established in the coming weeks. The business will operate the designed RDX production facility, and it “will be handed over to the Ministry of Defence in up to six months,” the government said in a statement.
RDX is a highly energetic explosive chemical compound commonly used in military applications.
“There is a shortage of explosives production capacity in Europe, so building new capacity is essential to ensure security of supply for companies in Estonia and the wider region,” said Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur. “The explosives plant will make Estonia more attractive as a location for the defence industry.”
The state will initially own all the company’s shares, but Tallinn plans to involve a strategic investor for the plant in the future.
Meanwhile, the Estonian government is also readying to accommodate new ammunition plants. The cabinet is currently making efforts to settle domestic and foreign manufacturers of weapons, ammunition and equipment in different locations, among others at the defence industry park in Ämari.
“In addition to the ‘mini defence industry park’ in Ämari, we are also developing a national defence industry park, for which we also do not set limits on production, allowing the production of 155mm shells among other products,” a spokesperson for the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI) said.
“It is up to defence companies to come up with production projects. The government will provide a conducive environment,” the spokesperson said.
Under the plan, the ECDI will host public tenders to select investors this year.
“The establishment of an explosives plant in Estonia will be a strong added value for the Defence Industrial Park and the ammunition producers that will be operating there,” said Pevkur.
