What if the revival of the arms industry in France was partly played out in the south of the Dordogne? Because to power the famous Caesar cannons, you need charges. This Thursday, the President of the Republic visited one of the sites of the Eurenco factory, European leader in powders and explosives, located in Bergerac.
Emmanuel Macron laid the first stone of a new powder mill, which will mobilize 100 million investments in the coming years, out of the 500 million deployed by the group (present in Sweden, Belgium and soon in the United States). Europe also supports this group to the tune of 76 million euros.
The new powder production unit is both the symbol of the “war economy” as it is expressed, linked to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine at the gates of Europe, and that of forced reindustrialization. .
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Over 15 hectares, 15 buildings will rise from the ground at high speed on a site which had already hosted a gunpowder factory, notably during the two great world conflicts. While the earthworks are underway, the foundations are planned in two weeks and the assembly of the walls will take place in just a month. The factory should be ready to start on January 1, 2025, that is to say after only two years of work compared to rather double for a classic industrial project.
“This factory could have been built more quickly if we were at war because we would not have had a year of environmental studies,” says Thierry Francou, CEO of Eurenco. I say this because I hear that comparisons are being made with Russia, which is at war, which have no reason to be made.” In terms of staff, the site which only employed 200 people a year ago has 330 today, and soon 500 within a year and a half. “The war economy is reflected here in a very visible way,” said Thierry Francou, during the laying of the first stone. At launch, the site will be able to produce 1,200 tonnes of powders per year and could go up to 2,000 tonnes.
An issue of sovereignty over fire
In Bergerac, the site is dedicated to propulsion. “The objective is to be able, within a year and a half to two years, to produce the equivalent of 1.2 million modular charges, or 200,000 complete rounds (a shell comprising six modular charges) of 155 mm ammunition (standard NATO artillery caliber),” explains Yves Traissac, deputy general manager of the group.
One of the challenges is to control the entire manufacturing process, from nitrocellulose to these famous complete shots, but powder was the missing link. With this relaunch on the Bergeracois site, the group will increase its large-caliber powder production capacity tenfold.
“All the production capacity here can be mobilized, if we one day return to war, for needs for France. It would then be a decision of the State,” specifies the director of Eurenco, of which the French State is the sole shareholder.
“The world has changed”
“It is the need of the moment to provide weapons to enable Ukraine to resist but there is also a lasting need because we see that the world has changed,” commented the President of the Republic, referring to the global geopolitical situation. “When I was elected in 2017 we produced 500 shells per year,” he recalled. We started in 2017 because we saw that the world was becoming more and more conflictual, by producing 3,000 shells delivered per year. From the start of Russian aggression, we switched to a war economy, producing 15,000. »
The manager of Eurenco mentioned firm orders for munitions, knowing that the company exports 75% of its production, up to 2038. Visibility which makes it possible to secure its 500 million euros of investments.
“Bergerac has been attuned to the history and transformation of its defense industries, it is the image of industrial reconquest and this military sovereignty that we want for ourselves and for Europe », summarized the Head of State in front of the gates of the Perigord site, before returning to Paris.