Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the factory has been under consideration since March last year as a potential ammunition supplier, and announced a likely purchase last month.

Poulsen did not confirm that ammunition made at the factory will be sent to Ukraine, but noted in a press statement that the Russian invasion had “put ammunition production in Europe under drastic strain”.

The price to be paid by the Danish state for the factory, which is located in the town of Elling in the northern Frederikshavn municipality, has not been disclosed.

“The all-round critical situation has made clear to me as defence minister the need for us to re-establish ammunitions production in Denmark,” he said in comments to news wire Ritzau.

“We are now taking the first step toward this by acquiring the facility in Elling. Ammunition supply is in the interest of national security,” he said.

He made no further comment with a full press briefing scheduled for Saturday.

The factory was acquired by a local investor last year after having stood empty since 2020, when 63 staff lost their jobs there according to local media TV2 Nord.

Its reopening will be a boost for jobs in the area, according to defence spokesperson Lise Bech of the Denmark Democrats.

“Our rural areas are struggling and 800 people recently lost their jobs in North Jutland when the Danish Crown [meatpacking company, ed.] closed its factory in Sæby,” she said.

The factory was owned until 2020 by Spanish company Expal, which purchased it in 2008. The Danish military began in 1976 production of ammunition at the site, which now has 50 buildings spread across 18,000 square kilometres.