Defense-Industrial Bottlenecks: Gunpowder
Supply shortages in gunpowder highlight the challenges that Europe currently is facing in its quest to regain basic defense-industrial capabilities. The product is in high demand, and there is a strong preference to source it domestically. The expansion of the European supply base, however, is restricted by momentous technical and structural factors. Numerous states therefore opt for industrial policy measures.
The defensive capability of a state or alliance depends, to a large degree, on its access to sufficient defense-industrial capabilities. Even before the Russian attack on Ukraine, it was no secret that the capacities and, in some cases, competences of Europe’s defense industry had dwindled considerably since the 1990s. However, a precise picture of the extent and implications of this loss of substance only becomes discernible now, against the backdrop of the current large-scale war. Two insights take center stage here.
First, to cover the new demands of European armed forces, the domestic industrial base is required not only to regain ground in prestigious high-tech fields such as military aviation and information technology, but also to reclaim basic skills. These relate, in particular, to weapons, ammunition, and energetic materials, most of which have been considered redundant and deliberately cut back in recent decades.
Second, it is especially in this “kinetic” field of application that the reclaim of industrial skills proves to be more challenging than its basic military character would suggest. In fact, this segment tends to be highly specialized and risky from both the technical and commercial standpoint. Respective industrial activities depend on expertise and complex infrastructures that are now rare in Europe and, beyond that, cannot be obtained in the short term through adaptation from the civilian sphere.
“The demand situation of European armed forces requires the industrial base to regain capabilities that, while basic, are all but “simple”.”Amos Dossi
The present analysis examines this imbalance between demand and supply, its causes, and its implications for defense industrial policy using the example of gunpowder. This supposedly niche area is increasingly moving into the focus of political and external pagemedia interest. From a military point of view, gunpowder (or propellants, in more technical terms) is amongst the most elementary goods. From the point of view of industrial production, however, this chemical-technical product is extremely sophisticated and largely decoupled from other civilian as well as defense industrial activities.
In the following, the essential technical parameters determining the production process of propellants as well as the product’s military significance are outlined. Subsequently, the status and prospects of Europe’s industrial recovery in this segment are examined, with a particular focus on Switzerland, which, nolens volens, assumes a significant role here. Finally, the industrial policy implications of respective technological and market-related peculiarities are discussed.
The author:
Dr. Amos Dossi is a Senior Researcher at the CSS Think Tank where he leads the policy consultancy cluster Military Doctrine and Armaments Acquisition. The focus of his academic and applied research is on military technology innovation and defence-industrial strategy.