The Big Question: una start-up svedese è la risposta al problema delle munizioni in Europa?

euronews (in Italiano)

The Big Question: una start-up svedese è la risposta al problema delle munizioni in Europa?  "Ottenere profitti a breve termine non è tra le mie priorità", ha dichiarato a The Big Question il cofondatore dell'ultimo impianto di produzione di TNT in Europa.  ALTRE INFORMAZIONI : http://it.euronews.com/2025/08/04/the-big-question-una-start-up-svedese-e-la-risposta-al-problema-delle-munizioni-in-europa  Abbonati, euronews è disponibile in 12 lingue.

Transcript

00:00Europe only has one TNT manufacturer today.

00:02The price we pay, if we don't do it, it's going to be even higher.

00:04None of them will be sold in the state of war.

00:12Welcome to The Big Question,

00:15the show from Euronews where we address

00:16some of the biggest issues on the business agenda.

00:20My guest on today's program is Joachim Sjöblom,

00:24the CEO and co-founder of Sweden Ballistics,

00:26a new Swedish manufacturer of explosives.

00:31Joachim, thank you so much for joining us.

00:32Thank you for having me.

00:33First, your company is planning to set up

00:36a manufacturing plant for the explosive TNT in Sweden.

00:41So for those of our viewers who might not be so familiar with it,

00:45can you first remind us what TNT is and what it's used for?

00:49Absolutely.

00:50So TNT is one of the oldest explosives used for military purposes.

00:54Trinitro toluene has several benefits to it.

00:57It's relatively unsensitive and safe to handle.

01:00The raw materials are easily available,

01:02which is essential for this production

01:04because the big purpose of why we're doing this

01:06is our local resilience and supply chains.

01:09Now we know that explosives, including TNT,

01:18are in shortage in Europe.

01:20Europe essentially is not producing enough.

01:22What role can Sweden Ballistics play

01:25in plugging that production gap in Europe, do you think?

01:29So the numbers that are easy to refer to

01:31is a public study that was presented

01:33by a British research institute back in March 2005.

01:37And they stated that Russia can make available

01:395 million artillery shells per annum.

01:413.5 is newly produced,

01:43and roughly 1.5 is from either stockpiles

01:45or donations from the Russian allies.

01:47The same article presented that the European production capacity,

01:50including the UK, but excluding the US,

01:52is 720,000 shells.

01:54So you have a 6x difference

01:56on Russian capacity versus European capacity.

01:58And the whole NATO philosophy of deterrence

02:01is to make sure that both parties

02:03have somewhat equal strengths

02:04to prevent the other from attacking the other.

02:06And, well, time will tell.

02:08If this delta continues growing,

02:10the risk of the conflict will increase

02:12unless we can be on par.

02:13Give us a sense right now

02:15of how reliant Europe is on TNT and explosives

02:20produced in other parts of the world.

02:23Europe only has one TNT manufacturer today,

02:25located in Poland, named Nitrogen,

02:27controlled by the Polish state.

02:28And they're doing a great job,

02:30but they produce far from enough capacity.

02:32So if you go one step up

02:33in the ammunition production chain,

02:35you have a lot of manufacturers of ammunition.

02:37So you've got BAE in the UK,

02:39you've got Nexter and KNDS in France,

02:42you've got Rheinmetall, NAMU, et cetera.

02:44All of these are reliant on explosives,

02:46but barely none of them produce their own explosive.

02:49So during time of peace,

02:50they could rely on Poland to supply them.

02:52Now they cannot.

02:53And so the vast majority of TNT currently used in Europe

02:56is coming outside of NATO countries.

02:58in many cases, Far East Asia.

03:00What kind of risks does that carry, in your opinion,

03:03that there is a reliance on producers outside of Europe?

03:06Countless.

03:07So only if we go back to the COVID pandemic,

03:10we saw that the UK was producing vaccine,

03:12but they were applying an export ban to it.

03:15If something would happen in Poland,

03:17I am very certain there would be an export ban on TNT.

03:20Same goes for the Asian country that is currently exporting.

03:23If there would be a conflict,

03:24well, in their proximity,

03:26there would be an export ban to it.

03:27On top of that,

03:28in order to transport explosives from Asia,

03:31you need to go around the Horn of Africa

03:33because the Suez Channel is closed

03:34due to the conflict in Yemen

03:35and the boats being attacked.

03:37So the lead time is more than two months

03:39if the ship even reaches your ports.

03:42On top of that,

03:42you have the political risk

03:43and you have uncertain agendas

03:45from the countries that you're buying from.

03:47And you specifically,

03:48you're, I understand,

03:49hoping to be at full production capacity

03:51by around 2027.

03:54Give us a sense of

03:55what your production capacity could be

03:57as Sweden ballistics

03:58and how much of a role you can play

03:59in kind of ramping up

04:01the amount of explosives

04:03that Europe actually produces.

04:04So our environmental permit

04:05is for 4,500 metric tons

04:07and one artillery shell

04:09holds roughly 10 kilograms per shell.

04:12So easily calculated,

04:13roughly 400,000, 450,000 shells.

04:15It's far from matching the Russian capacity.

04:17We will need 10 of these manufacturing plants

04:19to be on par

04:20with 5,000,000 shells coming out of Russia.

04:22But it's a major contribution.

04:23Now, we know that

04:24there's a big push in Europe right now

04:26to ramp up investment in defense.

04:29We have the Rearm Europe plan,

04:30which could release as much

04:32as 800 billion euros by 2030.

04:35How do you see Sweden ballistics

04:37contributing to this plan?

04:39And are you confident

04:40that all of these will work

04:42and can actually undo decades

04:45of underinvestment in this sector?

04:47Well, ready is very hard to define

04:49because nobody knows

04:50what the world will look like

04:51five years from now.

04:52In terms of the safe funding,

04:53it already has a requirement

04:55that 65% of the cost of components

04:57should be manufactured within Europe.

04:59In order to have EU-manufactured components,

05:02we play a part in that puzzle.

05:03The industry is asked

05:04to take huge commercial

05:06and financial risk

05:07to ramp up production,

05:09while the actual procurement orders

05:11from the armed forces

05:12and the member states

05:13are not coming in as fast.

05:15So I think the risk profile

05:17is suboptimal right now.

05:19The industry needs to carry a lot of risk,

05:21which is a benefit

05:21as a new player in the industry

05:23because we don't have

05:24the same shareholders

05:25to cater for

05:27and we don't have the same stock price

05:29that we consider on a quarterly basis.

05:31My job here is to make sure

05:32that we prevent the future conflict

05:34and making short-term profit

05:36is not high on my agenda.

05:39Some would say,

05:40well, this big portion

05:42in investment in the defense sector

05:43is going to benefit

05:45big corporations

05:46and entrepreneurs like yourself.

05:48But do you think also

05:49that the benefits can spill over

05:51to the local economy?

05:53Will it create more jobs and so on?

05:55100%.

05:55So I'm going to take this number

05:57with a pinch of salt,

05:59but I read a number

05:59that the European member states

06:01are spending 200 billion euros

06:02every year on defense material.

06:04more than 60% of that

06:05is purchased

06:06from American producers.

06:07If those components

06:08were to be manufactured

06:09in the EU,

06:10we would create

06:11more than 10 million jobs.

06:12So there is a real

06:13measurable opportunity,

06:15which also comes with the benefit

06:17of our improved security.

06:18You say on the website

06:20of Sweden Ballistics

06:21that the company

06:22is dedicated

06:23to strengthening

06:24NATO's resilience

06:25and preventing

06:27military conflicts

06:28through the production

06:29of defensive capabilities,

06:30which is something

06:31you've explained to us.

06:32Some would argue

06:34that the idea

06:35of an explosives factory

06:36is not compatible

06:37with the idea

06:38of preventing conflicts.

06:40How do you see it?

06:41I think we can look

06:42at the results of history.

06:44So NATO is, what,

06:4575 years old now

06:46and it's the most successful

06:48preventive defensive alliance

06:50in the history of the world.

06:52So no NATO country

06:53has been invaded

06:54since its creation.

06:55So the likelihood

06:56of these ornaments

06:57actually being used,

06:59I would say,

06:59is quite small.

07:00and that's the whole purpose.

07:01So the risk of going

07:03into a conflict

07:03is higher

07:04if you have a difference

07:06in the production capacity

07:07with your aggressor.

07:09Another reason

07:09why I'm doing this

07:10is if you look

07:11at the global crises,

07:12environment,

07:13climate, starvation,

07:14none of them

07:15will be solved

07:16in a state of war.

07:17So the fundamentals

07:18to addressing climate

07:20is to make sure

07:21there is no war.

07:22Because if there is a war,

07:23there will be no resources

07:24allocated

07:24to solve the big problems.

07:26So I see this

07:27as kind of a step zero.

07:29This needs to be

07:31stable

07:31to solve the big problems.

07:32But my ambition

07:33is to repurpose

07:34any cash flow

07:35that this business generates

07:36into further strengthening

07:37our resilience

07:38and preventing the conflict.

07:39So as long as we have

07:40a world

07:41where there is a conflict

07:42in our proximity,

07:43I would like to make sure

07:44that it stays

07:45in our proximity

07:45and not at home.

07:46Great.

07:47Well, Jochen,

07:47thank you so much

07:48for joining us

07:48on The Big Question.

07:49Thank you for having me.

07:50We'll see you next time.

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