This is another example of just how utterly incompetent and detached from reality people running things in EU are. Turns out that it takes time to build factories, train workers, and secure supply chains for the resource production.

Scarce supplies of gunpowder, plastic explosives and TNT have left industry unable to rapidly meet expected EU orders for Ukraine, regardless of how much money is thrown at the problem, according to officials and producers.

The supply chain constraints underline how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has badly exposed Europe’s inadequate arms stocks and weak domestic production capacity, run down by decades of under-investment.

Turns out that all throwing money into this does is drive up the prices.

Europe is trying to meet Kyiv’s war fighting needs by pumping cash into the defence sector, particularly to encourage expansion of 155mm artillery production. There is dire need for shells, both to restock national armouries and maintain supplies to Ukrainian forces.

But producers, industry executives and EU officials warn increased demand may only push up prices that have already jumped a fifth over the past year.

“It’s not possible to increase, in a short time, nitrocellulose [production] . . . In Europe there are no important producers of the raw materials we need,” said Hynek, referring to a main ingredient of gunpowder. “If I want to increase production of gunpowder I need probably three years.”

And the article doesn’t even go into the problem of increased energy use for all this, steel plants in Europe have been shutting down because of high energy costs already. If Europe commits to this large scale increase in military production that will divert already scarce energy from civilian use driving up cost of living even further.