Estonia launches competition to host major foreign munitions firm

MILAN — The Estonian Centre for Defense Investments has launched a competition for picking a munitions producer to set up shop at a military base in 2025, a move meant to jump-start a domestic shell production industry.

The ECDI, the procurement arm for the Estonian Defense Forces, announced the bid on Aug. 21, calling on companies to submit their proposal by early October.

The winner will be granted a space of approximately 8,900 square meters at the Ämari military base, located southwest of the Estonian capital Tallinn, for up to five years. The site will include a maximum of seven ammunition storage facilities, protective embankments and communication equipment, according to an ECDI statement.

The government’s goal is to launch the production of ammunition for combat use in the first half of next year.

“We currently do not have any ammunition production within the country, [hence] we are heavily dependent on other European countries for this,” Tuuli Duneton, undersecretary for defense policy, told Defense News in an interview last year.

At the time, the Estonian official had said that two options were being assessed to set up domestic manufacturing.

The first, would involve an Estonian defense company establishing a dedicated facility for producing shells, and the second, would entail the creation of a manufacturing plant in Estonia by a European company, preferably a privately owned one.

Officials did not name desired projectile types in the new ECDI tender, saying only the deal would cover “ammunition or combat ammunition containing explosives.”

Fellow Baltic nation Lithuania launched a similar industry initiative earlier this year. The government signing a memorandum of intent with Rheinmetall to build a 155mm ammunition plant locally.

The proposal was part of a series of amendments made by Lithuanian economic authorities to existing regulations, with the goal of attracting major arms maker to a open production sites amid the promise of lowered bureaucratic hurdles.

The push to turn the Baltic states into munitions producers comes amid an explosion in the demand for artillery shells across the European market, as countries seek to strike a balance between sending rounds to Ukraine while simultaneously boosting their own stocks.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——爱沙尼亚国防投资中心发起了一项竞赛，旨在挑选一家军火生产商于 2025 年在军事基地设立工厂，此举旨在启动国内炮弹生产行业。

爱沙尼亚国防军采购机构 ECDI 于 8 月 21 日宣布招标，呼吁各公司在 10 月初之前提交方案。

根据爱沙尼亚国防联盟（ECDI）的声明，中标者将获得位于爱沙尼亚首都塔林西南部的阿马里军事基地内约8900平方米的场地，使用期限最长可达五年。该场地将包括最多七个弹药库、防护堤坝和通信设备。

政府的目标是在明年上半年启动用于战斗的弹药生产。

“我们目前国内没有任何弹药生产能力，因此我们在这方面严重依赖其他欧洲国家，”国防政策副部长图利·杜内顿去年在接受《防务新闻》采访时表示。

当时，这位爱沙尼亚官员曾表示，正在评估两种建立国内制造业的方案。

第一种方案是让爱沙尼亚国防公司建立专门的炮弹生产设施；第二种方案是让欧洲公司（最好是私营公司）在爱沙尼​​亚建立制造厂。

官员们没有在新的 ECDI 招标中指明所需的弹药类型，只表示该交易将涵盖“含有爆炸物的弹药或作战弹药”。

今年早些时候，同属波罗的海国家的立陶宛也启动了一项类似的产业计划。该国政府与莱茵金属公司签署了一份意向备忘录，计划在当地建设一座155毫米弹药厂。

该提案是立陶宛经济当局对现有法规进行的一系列修订的一部分，其目的是在降低官僚障碍的承诺下，吸引大型武器制造商到开放式生产基地建厂。

在欧洲市场对炮弹的需求激增之际，推动波罗的海国家成为军火生产国的呼声日益高涨。各国都在寻求在向乌克兰运送炮弹的同时，增加自身库存，以求在两者之间取得平衡。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。