RAUFOSS, Norway — Morten Brandtzeg, CEO of the defense giant Nammo, has issued a stark warning regarding the future of Western security: any rupture in industrial cooperation between Europe and the United States would create a “capability gap” that could take up to a decade to bridge.
Speaking from the company’s headquarters in Norway, Brandtzeg cautioned that the current geopolitical climate risks undermining decades of integrated military supply chains. His primary concern centers on critical components like rocket motors, where Nammo serves as a vital supplier for American-made defense systems, including Raytheon’s AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. Without these essential Norwegian-produced motors, European F-35 fighter jets could effectively be grounded, left unable to utilize their primary air-to-air weaponry.
“We must prevent short-term political turbulence from destroying decades of industrial cooperation,” Brandtzeg stated, emphasizing that the interconnected nature of the NATO industrial base is a fundamental pillar of alliance deterrence. To mitigate these risks, Nammo is actively expanding its footprint on both sides of the Atlantic. The company is prepared to scale up production at its Perry, Florida facility, while simultaneously commissioning a third rocket motor production line at its Raufoss site, with plans to double that facility’s output capacity by 2032.
The urgency of these efforts is underscored by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Nammo is currently surging its production of 155 mm artillery shells, yet Brandtzeg admitted that the current pace remains insufficient to meet the demands of the war. Currently, nearly all of the shells rolling off the company’s lines are diverted directly to the Ukrainian front, leaving European stockpiles critically depleted and failing to recover.
While Nammo is investing $180 million in a new state-of-the-art production facility—slated for completion in 2027—Brandtzeg noted the sobering reality of modern industrial warfare: the immense investment required to build such a plant will produce only about a week’s worth of ammunition for Ukraine’s current operational tempo.
Experts echo the gravity of the situation. Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), highlighted that increasing shell production is only half the battle. He warned that simply ordering more munitions will fail to solve the systemic problem unless there is a concurrent, massive expansion in the production of core chemical inputs, such as nitrocellulose, explosives, and nitric acid. Watling further pointed to the massive regulatory and financial hurdles associated with securing permits for new propellant production facilities—a process that acts as a significant bottleneck in rearming the continent.
As tensions with Russia remain high and the demand for artillery persists, Nammo’s call for deeper transatlantic industrial unity serves as a wake-up call for NATO leaders to move beyond rhetoric and prioritize the long-term sustainability of their combined defense infrastructure.
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