Polish company Mesko located in Kraśnik has begun building a new plant to produce 155 mm artillery shells. This should increase annual production to 150,000 units.
According to Defence24, construction will begin this year and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2027. It is also not specified how long it will take to achieve the planned target.
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Mesko is currently the only manufacturer of 155 mm shell bodies in Poland, so it has to work to meet the challenges of the new era. In mid-2025, it received PLN 887 million (around USD 243 million) to build new infrastructure and production lines and expand existing facilities.
The russian-Ukrainian war shows that despite the dominance of drones, artillery remains an important and powerful weapon on the battlefield. Therefore, sufficient industrial capacity is required to supply it with ammunition, the demand for which exceeds one million rounds per year.
As of today, Poland produces 20,000 155 mm shells per year, which will most likely last for several days. Therefore, since the start of the full-scale russian-Ukrainian war, Poland has been trying to increase this number.
For various reasons, large-scale efforts only got underway in 2025. For instance, Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ), which includes Mesko, raised $665 million for the project and signed a partnership agreement with BAE Systems to organize production at the same level of automation as in the UK.
It was recently announced that Niewiadów–PGM has partnered with the Polish Military Institute of Technical Armament (Wojskowy Instytut Techniczny Uzbrojenia) to develop its own technology for producing 155 mm ammunition. This is expected to provide the country with greater autonomy and reduce reliance on licenses from outside the EU.
Poland has now fully embarked on the production of artillery shells. Although it will take several years to reach the planned volumes, the start of work is the first right and necessary step in this direction.
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