EU lacks raw materials to expand arms production

The rising cost of materials, energy, and dependence on imports from third countries could limit the European defence industry’s renaissance.

"Most of the raw materials necessary for the production of military products are not mined or are minimally mined in EU countries today,” Jiří Hynek, head of the Association for Weapons and Defence Industry of the Czech Republic, told EURACTIV.cz.

"To name but a few products that are in short supply on the market today – all packaging materials, many chemicals but also the cellulose needed for producing gunpowder. There is a shortage of synthetic rubber, and its prices are astronomical,” Hynek said.

“For example, the much-demanded ballistic resistant vests could not have been produced here if the material had not been imported from Asia, mainly China. Some manufacturers have moved production straight there,” he warned.

Hynek added that the European arms business suffers from severed ties with Russia, from where aluminium, platinum and palladium came.