Czechoslovak Group Revives Plants to Ease Europe’s Artillery Explosives Shortage

Europe can add more artillery-shell assembly lines, but those lines cannot raise output without enough energetic material flowing into them. Czechoslovak Group, or CSG, is targeting that upstream constraint by restoring dormant explosives production and converting civilian plants in Greece and Germany to make TNT, nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin and related materials required for NATO-standard 155mm ammunition.

The Czech defense group’s projects, detailed on November 2, represent a more fundamental capacity expansion than adding another final assembly operation. CSG is preparing to work with state-owned Hellenic Defence Systems to restore TNT production in Lavrio, Greece. In Germany, it is converting a civilian nitrocellulose factory in Walsrode for military-material production and developing a Gnaschwitz facility for nitroglycerin and related explosives.

Jan Hamacek, CSG’s director of external relations, said the completed facilities would provide capacity equivalent to about one-third of Europe’s total consumption. That is a company estimate rather than completed output: the facilities remain in development, and TNT production at Lavrio is expected to begin in early 2027.

The bottleneck sits before shell assembly

The industrial logic is straightforward. A finished 155mm round depends on specialized explosive and propellant materials, so investments in machining, filling and assembly cannot reach their intended production rates if those inputs remain scarce. CSG is therefore building control over several points in the material chain instead of concentrating only on the finished round.

That approach addresses a documented European supply problem. A July Wall Street Journal account described serious shortages of TNT and nitrocellulose, identified Poland at that time as Europe’s only remaining TNT producer and reported continued reliance on Chinese raw materials. It also counted at least 24 projects launched by NATO members to expand explosives capacity and relieve bottlenecks.

CSG’s three-site plan spreads the work by material and location. Lavrio would return an inactive production base to TNT manufacturing. Walsrode would shift an existing civilian nitrocellulose operation toward military supply. Gnaschwitz would add production of nitroglycerin and related explosives. If the plants reach their intended output, European ammunition manufacturers would gain a larger regional source for multiple critical inputs rather than depending on one new factory or one material.

Factory conversion is not a simple equipment swap

Reusing an established industrial site can preserve buildings, utilities and an experienced labor base, but conversion still requires production equipment, protective systems and operating controls suited to hazardous materials. The European Union’s rules for equipment used in potentially explosive atmospheres set health, safety and conformity requirements for covered machinery and protective systems before they enter the market.

Those constraints help explain why announced capacity and available production are different milestones. Restoring dormant infrastructure requires more than restarting old machinery, while adapting a civilian chemical plant requires the new process to meet the applicable safety and production requirements. Lavrio’s early-2027 target is therefore an important marker, but commissioning and sustained output will determine how much supply actually reaches ammunition producers.

CSG’s work also fits into a broader institutional push toward upstream capacity. NATO’s updated Defence Production Action Plan explicitly addresses raw materials and supply chains alongside demand aggregation and standardization. In October, the European Commission allocated €168.2 million to eight energetic-component projects, which are expected to leverage €1.26 billion in industrial investment across 17 sites in 14 European Union countries and Norway.

The Commission expects those projects collectively to enable more than 20,000 tons of energetic-material production annually from 2027. Separate developments underline the scale of the shortage: Finland’s FORCIT says its planned TNT facility, due to begin operating in 2028, would double Europe’s military-grade TNT capacity, while Estonia has approved a €150 million explosives plant planned for production in 2028.

CSG’s claim of capacity equal to roughly one-third of European consumption makes its network potentially significant, but the decisive steps remain ahead. Lavrio must reach its early-2027 production target, the two German conversions must move from development into dependable operation, and all three plants must deliver materials at industrial scale. Until then, Europe’s planned increase in 155mm-shell output remains tied to the less visible factories that supply the explosives inside each round.

By David Whitaker — Associate editor for AMI’s aerospace and drone systems desk, translating flight systems, aircraft programs, spaceflight, and UAV developments into accessible technical stories.