During the recently concluded SOF Week conference in Tampa, we spoke with Johnny Summers, vice president of energetics for Global Ordnance, about the shortages and their effect on the ability to produce enough artillery shells to meet U.S. and NATO needs.<\/p>\n
Some questions and answers were lightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n
Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Tell us about the effects of the ongoing shortage of TNT.<\/p>\n A<\/strong>: We had a procurement contract with\u00a0Zarya in Ukraine\u00a0<\/a>to bring material to the U.S. for U.S. government contracts and commercial customers. We had brought 2,000 metric tons of that material to the U.S., part for the U.S. government and part for commercial sales, until the war kicked off in 2022, and immediately that factory was behind enemy lines and is out of capacity production since. So we\u2019ve been working to try to replace that for our customers over that period of time, due to the expanding need for TNT, due to multiple conflicts, both in Israel and in Ukraine. TNT has been a huge requirement. To that point, the U.S. government has recently issued a\u00a0contract to establish a TNT manufacturing facility<\/a>\u00a0in Kentucky. That\u2019s actually a program that our company bid on, and we weren\u2019t awarded that contract. So we\u2019re continuing to work with suppliers around the world to be able to locate TNT for our customers.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Now, where are you looking for TNT, given the global competition?<\/p>\n A<\/strong>: A lot of people are looking for it, and there\u2019s a lot of capacity from banned locations. So\u00a0China is offering TNT around the world<\/a>, and we get offered it one or two times a week from various brokers that approach us. We\u2019re not allowed to procure that TNT from China, so we don\u2019t, thank you very much. We\u2019re looking at other sources in other countries. I don\u2019t want it to divulge too much at this point, but we are in negotiations with a couple of other factories in other countries that aren\u2019t on the banned list, where we can potentially bring in TNT, both for the U.S. government and for our commercial customers.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0What are your commercial customers saying?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0Before the war kicked off, there were two price ranges for TNT. There were the commercial prices, and then there were government prices. And they were fairly decently apart. We were selling the same TNT from Zarya, but the U.S. government wanted it tested and packaged differently so they get a different price. And it has to come on a U.S.-flagged vessel, which triples the price of shipping compared to your commercial customers. But now the commercial market is having to pay the same price as the government customers for that TNT, and it\u2019s gone up probably fourfold in the last four years.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What\u2019s the price point on that?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re selling to a U.S. government customer, on U.S.-flagged vessels, we\u2019re talking about $20 a pound.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>And for commercial customers?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0A little bit less, because we don\u2019t have to use U.S.-flagged vessels, but the TNT itself is just as expensive.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What\u2019s the ratio between the need for TNT for the U.S. government and commercial companies?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0The U.S. government posted a\u00a0Sources Sought Notice for TNT<\/a>\u00a0for a period covering Fiscal Years 2027-2031. The range of requirements is from 1 million pounds to 8 million pounds per year. We have a current U.S. commercial requirement for 2025 for 4.4 million pounds. These are the data points that I have.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Given these issues, how difficult is it to put this all together to make shells?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, the TNT is manufactured from a bunch of chemicals. So those aren\u2019t necessarily hard to come by. A lot of places make those, but building the factory is difficult because you have to have special storage tanks for each one of those components, and then supply lines and a factory to put it together and test range storage bunkers to put it in while you\u2019re manufacturing it, before you ship it out. So it\u2019s a big investment to build a TNT factory, both footprint-wise, environmental protection restrictions, and so forth. So that\u2019s why you don\u2019t see a whole lot of them around the world. The U.S. hasn\u2019t made TNT in decades.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Would Global Ordnance consider building its own TNT factory?<\/p>\n A<\/strong>: No. We bid on the U.S. government opportunity for that, because they were offering up a U.S. government facility that had been tailor-made for those types of commodities, so that you don\u2019t have to start from scratch.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0In your proposal, did you see that the production capacity capability would eventually meet the need, and over what period of time?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0The question becomes the longevity of the two conflicts, and how much artillery ammunition is being consumed over time, because that\u2019s the big driver for TNT right now, which is both 155mm and 152mm artillery. That\u2019s the big consumer of TNT on the defense side.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s a European effort to increase the production and flow of artillery rounds. How much is that going to be impacted or affected, if at all, by this global shortage of TNT?<\/p>\n A<\/strong>: It affects all the factories, but there\u2019s a trickle down to that as well right now because we have multiple contracts to produce 155mm artillery shells throughout Europe. The U.S. government is our biggest customer because they\u2019re delivering those to Ukraine, those are TNT-filled 155mm rounds. But the TNT is not the biggest shortage at the moment. It\u2019s the propellant for the propellant bags. That is a bigger shortage at the moment.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What are the components of the propellant bag?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0It depends on the type of range. You have different zones of fire. If you\u2019re trying to go the maximum range, that\u2019s what they call a red bag and that uses an M6 propellant. And you start with nitrocellulose to build the propellant.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0And there\u2019s a huge shortage of nitrocellulose?<\/p>\n A<\/strong>: There\u2019s a shortage right now of nitrocellulose used to make the propellant, because most of the propellant factories are saying, if you can get us more nitrocellulose, then we can give you more propellant.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How much nitrocellulose do you need?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>You need approximately 20 pounds of dry nitrocellulose to make the propellant required for each M119 propellant charge that goes with an artillery shell. We are currently delivering 2.2 million pounds of nitrocellulose to North America to make propellant.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>How difficult is that to produce?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s a lot easier than TNT. It\u2019s a smaller factory footprint and mixing, and it\u2019s mixed with pure cotton. And then for packaging, for shipment, it\u2019s mixed with denatured water so it can be shipped safely. And then once it gets to the factory, they have to evaporate all that water out before they actually use it to make the propellant charge.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Is Global Ordnance interested in creating a propellant factory?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>A propellant factory is a big piece as well, a multiple-step process, buildings scattered out, and conveyance systems. We\u2019ve looked into potentially looking at nitrocellulose production capacity.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0So, where is the nitrocellulose made?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0The ones that we\u2019re aware of, personally, China makes that as well, in large quantities. We\u2019ve got a contract to procure some from Taiwan. There\u2019s also a factory in Brazil. Most of these factories that exist don\u2019t do high volume. We work with a propellant manufacturer in Canada, and their annual requirement for propellant is about 5,000 metric tons. So that\u2019s a lot of nitrocellulose.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Given where your suppliers are, how concerned are you about the supply chain being cut off?\u00a0And what would that do?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0Obviously, the force majeure clause comes into play contractually. But it doesn\u2019t help our customer or us be able to get our material to where we need it to go. That\u2019s why we really focus on trying to have multiple sources of supply geographically, not just within a region. We\u2019ve run across these things before. Obviously our TNT factory being in a war zone cut that off.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How much TNT were you getting from Zarya?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, we had brought over 2,000 metric tons, but we were planning on bringing 5,000 tons a year of TNT.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What are you hearing about the demand signal for a potential conflict between China and Taiwan? Is there any kind of buildup for that?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0Nothing that\u2019s been categorized as for Taiwan, but we\u2019ve worked through a lot of inventory that the U.S. had at a stockpile. So now we\u2019re trying to replace that inventory, and then help replace the inventory of some of our NATO partners through foreign military sales cases.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How depleted, from your point of view, were U.S. stocks as a result of the war in Ukraine? The U.S. has supplied Kyiv with more than three million rounds of 155mm artillery shells and nearly half a million 152mm shells.<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0I really can\u2019t talk to that at all.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How concerning is it that China has plenty of capacity and plenty of ability to produce shells, TNT, and repellent?\u00a0North Korea is also providing Russia<\/a>\u00a0with a lot of shells. So they must have a large capacity as well, right?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>[North Korean rounds] don\u2019t work too well. They have a lot of accidents with their rounds.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ZapOTop1-1024x576.jpg\")
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