The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, traveled to Bergerac on Thursday to lay the first stone of a gunpowder factory for shells. The turmoil caused by the War in Ukraine and global rearmament push for a “lasting” effort from the defense industry to increase their production as soon as possible, stated the French leader during his visit to the town located in the southwest of the neighboring country.
According to the European leader, France has embarked on a path of “geopolitical, geostrategic change, where the defense industries must play an increasing role, and he has urged companies in the sector to accelerate towards a “war economy” in order to continue actively supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion. In this sense, Macron has pointed out that “the effort” to be made “is urgent, we must go fast, strong, massify, and do it in a lasting way.”
Furthermore, the tenant of the Élysée has stated that “the world we are talking about will not stop tomorrow if the war ends, because there is a massive rearmament (…) of Russia and because it can be seen how, throughout Europe, military spending and orders are increasing.” This is what he indicated at the Eurenco facility, the European leader in gunpowders and explosives, where the new gunpowder factory, essential for the propulsion of projectiles, will begin operations in 2025. It is estimated that this new factory will produce 1200 tons of gunpowder per year.
On the other hand, Macron has stated that “the relocation of gunpowder, which had been abandoned, shows that there is no industrial inevitability.” In this sense, the Élysée estimates that the production of 250-kilogram bomb bodies (“corps de bombs” in French) has also been relocated to French territory.
