Bosnia and Herzegovina already has factories making the ammunition the Western military alliance needs right now – but without recognition and investment, their potential will go untapped.
Doug Wise
When NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned Allied defense ministers that Russia produces in three months what the entire Alliance produces in a year, Europe quickly moved.
Germany’s Rheinmetall accelerated artillery production across two countries. The US Army drove toward 100,000 155mm shells per month. Billions of euros poured into the EU’s Act in Support of Ammunition Production. Summits convened. A strategy for Industry-NATO Cooperation was adopted. Commitments were signed.
What largely escaped notice in all those urgent conversations was a pair of factories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the only country currently in NATO’s Membership Action Plan.
Pretis d.d., located in Vogosca, near Sarajevo, and Binas d.d., in Bugojno, have operated quietly for decades, largely overlooked by NATO. Pretis is among the few facilities in Europe producing 155mm artillery shells to full NATO standards – the exact caliber at the center of the Alliance’s ammunition crisis.
Subscribe to Balkan Insight Premium to read the full article.
Please login to your account below if you are already a Premium Subscriber.
Buy Premium Subscription
Our Premium Service gives you full access to all content published on BalkanInsight.com, including analyses, investigations, comments, interviews and more. Choose your subscription today and get unparalleled in-depth coverage of the Southern and Eastern Europe.
If you have trouble logging in or any other questions regarding you account, please contact us
