Along a ring of pines outside Karlskoga, Nammo's foundry has switched from standard hours to a continuous, 24-hour operation. The Norwegian-Finnish defence group is converting the plant to focus on NATO-standard 155mm artillery shells, and says Nordic governments and EU funds are helping underwrite the expansion as Europe boosts ammunition supplies.

In a small industrial district ringed by pine, a foundry that once kept standard hours now runs day and night. The plant in Karlskoga belongs to Nammo, the Norwegian-Finnish defence group. It makes NATO-standard shells from 40mm rounds to the large-calibre 155mm howitzer shell.

Factory under pressure

The site has installed new infrastructure and extended shifts. Workers have added cooling sheds and retooled assembly lines. A ceiling-mounted rail now carries shell carcasses through halls and corridors nonstop. Production that used to pause after the workday now continues 24 hours.

Martin Stang, the site manager and vice-president for Nammo's large-calibre operations in Sweden, said the facility is "in the middle of a transition" to concentrate on 155mm shells. He added, "It's a fairly quick switch." Those are the company's words about the retooling and scheduling changes.

Nammo hasn't published monthly production figures in public statements. But the firm says it will triple output over a two-year window beginning in 2024. The company attributes the move to requests from European governments and to public funding that helps underwrite the expansion.

How output will rise

The expansion combines several steps. Production lines are being refocused. New cooling sheds and auxiliary facilities are going up.

Plants once geared to a broader range of calibres are narrowing their work to meet demand for the largest rounds.

Nammo says the increase is being financed in part by Nordic governments and EU funds. That public backing reduces the immediate investment risk for the company. It also signals that governments see a public policy need to scale defence manufacturing.

Shifting a foundry from mixed output to a high-volume single calibre is an industrial task. It means changing tooling. This means changing the flow of raw inputs. This means adding shifts and often hiring or retraining staff. At Karlskoga, those changes are already visible on the shop floor.

Policy and market context

The industrial move links directly to the war in Ukraine. Both sides have relied heavily on artillery. That has driven demand for shells to levels Western stockpiles and peacetime production were not built to meet. The conflict exposed a gap between front-line needs and available supply.

Mastheads

Ukraine has moved largely to 155mm artillery as NATO-standard systems entered its arsenal. That transition increased demand for Western-calibre ammunition and left some older Soviet calibres in shorter supply among Kyiv's partners. The shift in Ukrainian artillery systems has therefore reshaped where European factories direct their capacity.

Further supply pressure came when U.S. Military aid was delayed. Congressional blockage by Republican lawmakers held up shipments at periods in 2024. That left European governments with a larger role in sustaining a steady flow of munitions to Ukraine. Nammo and other manufacturers say they're responding to formal requests and funding from national and EU authorities.

On the other side, Russia has been able to lean on its legacy Soviet production and on deliveries it secured from external partners. The differences in industrial posture between suppliers have added urgency to the European response.

Financial and industrial consequences

Public investment has shifted risk away from private capital. That matters for companies such as Nammo because large-capacity expansions require upfront spending on plant, tooling and labour. Nordic and EU funding helps close that gap.

For investors and markets, the flow of government money into defence manufacturing changes cash-flow profiles. When states underwrite expansion, companies face lower near-term capital risk. They also face higher operational demands, because funding often ties to delivery schedules and output targets.

For the wider defence supply chain, a refocusing on 155mm shells changes demand for subcomponents. That will affect steel suppliers, explosive compound manufacturers and logistics providers. Supply contracts will shift to meet concentrated volumes of one calibre rather than a dispersed mix.

At the plant level, running lines 24 hours increases labour costs and maintenance needs. It also raises the immediate need for secure raw-material flows and for steady power and transport links. Those are operational realities that accompany scale-ups in heavy manufacturing.

European governments are the immediate payers. They provide funding and receive contracted munitions.

Defence firms such as Nammo are the implementers. Workers and local suppliers see increased activity and altered working patterns.

Arms makers that didn't previously make large-calibre shells may be asked to change production. That can create opportunities for some manufacturers. It can also produce supplier bottlenecks where the market lacks specialist tooling or materials.

For military customers, bigger output means a steadier supply of ammunition. For taxpayers, it means public money directed towards defence-industrial capacity. Those are trade-offs that governments have weighed in recent decisions.

Manufacturing ammunition at scale isn't simply a task of running machines faster. It requires secure handling of explosives and rigorous quality control.

It demands regulatory permits and safety measures. Those constraints limit how quickly factories can ramp up and where expansions can be sited.

Nammo's public timeline is two years from 2024 to reach the stated multiple. That schedule embeds the time needed for retooling, hiring and certification. It also reflects the practical limits on how quickly an artillery shell supply chain can be enlarged.

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Nammo says it aims to scale output over a two-year timeline from 2024, with Nordic governments and EU funds underwriting the Karlskoga expansion.

This article was created with AI assistance.