Nato allies Turkey and Germany have reportedly struck a strategic arms partnership to build up the production of 155mm artillery shells.

The deal has been reported by Global Defense News – Army Recognition Group. Turkish metal-forming machines company REPKON has signed an agreement with an unnamed top German manufacturer to create an explosive filling facility in Germany. The project is scheduled to go operational by early 2027.

Rising demand for artillery ammunition is most obviously driven by the conflict in Ukraine as well as the associated growing military commitments of Europe’s Nato countries, given US President Donald Trump’s move to focus the highest American defence priorities elsewhere.

In European political circles, meanwhile, as reported by bne IntelliNews in mid-January, there is debate over whether Europe should seek to build up its defence and security relationship with Turkey given that the country has the second largest land forces in Nato behind those of the US and could help meet defence needs that will be affected by Trump’s lowered military commitments to Europe. In return, Turkey might expect to see some meaningful progress where its decades-old ambition to join the EU is concerned.

On February 12, as Nato defence chiefs met in Brussels to discuss the alliance’s security priorities,  Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Europe needed to look at how its defence manufacturing can produce more.

“We are not producing enough", he said, "and that is a collective problem we have – from the US up to and including Turkey and including the whole of the European Union, Norway, the UK – we have fantastic defence industries but we are not producing enough”.

Russia, Rutte added, is producing far more than Nato countries are at the moment and “this is simply not sustainable, we need to ramp up the defence industry production”.

Addressing fellow defence chiefs at the Nato gathering, new US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Rutte’s calls for Europe to improve its defence production, saying: “Not just in Europe but in the United States as well, we need the ability to create the systems and munitions necessary to sustain a fight.”

In further reporting of the Turkish-German deal on 155mm (6.1-inch) shells, Global Defense News – Army Recognition Group wrote: “The goal is to ensure a more stable supply of 155mm shells and to bolster European industrial capabilities in this critical sector.

“Germany’s defence industry, although dominated by major players such as Rheinmetall, is under growing pressure to increase ammunition production. The 155mm calibre, widely used by Western armed forces, has become a strategic priority for Berlin, which seeks to avoid excessive dependence on a limited number of suppliers.

“The choice of REPKON as a partner is explained by the Turkish company’s expertise in manufacturing and integrating automated production lines. This collaboration reflects a diversification of supply sources and a desire to secure logistics chains in the face of current geopolitical tensions.”

REPKON has already secured similar agreements to the one it now has with Germany in the US, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

The explosive filling plant in Germany will be highly automated.

It is widely recognised in the defence industry that the war in Ukraine has exposed a structural weakness in Western ammunition stockpiles. As noted by Army Recognition Group, they have been unable to keep pace with Russia’s production rate. Russia, with its war economy, reportedly manufactures approximately 250,000 shells per month. That figure far outstrips the combined capacity of Western industries.

REPKON recently acquired Bowas, a specialist in the design and production of equipment for explosive material manufacturing and demining.

It has operations in Austria, Italy and Switzerland.