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Video length: 2 min
Armament: why relaunch powder manufacturing in France?
Emmanuel Macron intends to stimulate the French arms industry. He was on the morning of Thursday April 11 in Bergerac, in Dordogne, for the opening of a factory for the production of powder for shells. What is it for ?
(France 2)
Emmanuel Macron intends to stimulate the French arms industry. He was on the morning of Thursday April 11 in Bergerac, in Dordogne, for the opening of a factory for the production of powder for shells. What is it for ?
To fire missiles in the Red Sea, supply Caesar cannons with shells or provide sufficient ammunition to Ukraine, one ingredient is essential: gunpowder. A new powder mill is being built in France, in Bergerac (Gironde). Until the fall of the Berlin Wall (Germany), the department was in full swing. Having fallen into disuse, it closed in 2007. The company Eurenco, financed by the French state, then relocated powder production to Sweden, in cooperation with other European companies.
Multiply production capacity by ten
The goal is to regain military and industrial sovereignty. In France, production lines are active 24 hours a day, but the objectives are far from being achieved, in particular because there is a lack of powder to propel them. “Everyone is demanding these raw materials or these semi-finished products at the same time, at the same time and above all in quantities never seen before”explains military arms expert Marc Chassillan.
Thierry Francou, CEO of Eurenco, assures that the company will “multiply by ten [ses] powder production capacities”. Each year, 1,200 tonnes of powder should leave the factory, enough to fire 80,000 155 mm shells, or around fifteen days of autonomy for the Ukrainians on the front.
