Portugal prepares to produce 50 million rounds of ammunition per year

idD Portugal Defence, a state holding company, wants to create a small-caliber ammunition factory in Alcochete. The project has already been completed and will be presented to the Government in the coming months, with an estimated cost of 40 million euros.

The information is provided by this Monday's edition of Jornal de Notícias , which quotes Ricardo Alves, chairman of the Board of Directors of this company — which, as stated on its website , is “a company with exclusively public capital under the joint supervision of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Finance”.

With this factory, idD Portugal Defence aims to produce up to 50 million rounds of ammunition per year, not only to supply the Portuguese Armed Forces, but also to export this material to other NATO countries.

According to JN's findings from an army source, these ammunition will be 5.56 and 7.62 mm, the calibers used by all deployed national forces and NATO armies in their small arms. "There is a very high growing demand for these ammunitions because there were a series of decades of no investment, and many countries are out of stock. And it is in this demand that the intention to set up the ammunitions factory arises," Ricardo Alves told the newspaper.

The same executive states that the factory will create 70 jobs and will work with a foreign partner. Portugal produced this type of ammunition during the Colonial War, and Defense Minister Nuno Melo has publicly stated his desire for the country to resume this activity. According to JN, the state will finance between 35% and 60% of the cost.