Ukraine ordered hulls for 155mm artillery shells from France
18 July, 2023 155mm shells manufactured by Forges de Tarbes, 2023. Photo credits: AFP/LIONEL BONAVENTURE Ukraine ordered the supply of a large number of hulls for 155mm artillery shells from France.
La Tribune reported on this. Ukraine became the largest customer of the French Forges de Tarbes factory. It is a subsidiary of the Europlasma Group.
The company specializes in the production of hollow shells for large-caliber artillery rounds. According to the French newspaper, on June 13, the Forges de Tarbes plant received a contract for the supply of 60,000 hulls intended for the production of 155mm shells, which will be delivered in 2024.
Production of the 155mm projectile at the Forges de Tarbes plant, 2023. Photo credits: AFP/LIONEL BONAVENTURE
Already on July 17, Jerome Garnache-Creuillot, CEO of Europlasma, announced an additional record annual contract for the manufacture of 120,000 large-caliber shells, which will be delivered to the customer starting in 2026 for at least three years.
According to the media, the agreement was signed with the Ukrainian company, which is a part of the Ukrainian Defense Industry joint-stock company (known as Ukroboronprom prior to the reorganization). In 2022, Europlasma announced a EUR15 million investment to increase the production capacity of its subsidiary, Forges de Tarbes, to reach 160,000 large-caliber shells yearly from 2025.
Hulls of 155mm projectiles produced by Forges de Tarbes. Photo by Remi Benoit
As part of this contract for the annual delivery of 120,000 hulls for 155mm shells, the French Ministry of Armed Forces must grant new export licenses to the manufacturer.
In June, the Ukroboronprom State Concern (now Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC) announced that it was working on developing the 155mm artillery round production.
Production of shells at the Rheinmetall enterprise. Photo credits: thechronicle.com.au
Nataliya Sad, the company's spokeswoman, announced this during a briefing on "Production of weapons and equipment for the needs of the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine." She noted that Ukroboronprom has already mastered the production of 82mm mortar rounds, 122mm, and 152mm artillery rounds, and 125mm tank rounds.
She also added that the development of the NATO standard 155mm caliber is ongoing.