South Africa halted ammunition shipment to Poland over concerns goods could reach Ukrainian army

Poland ordered about 50,000 ammunition from the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, but their supply was blocked by the government of the South African Republic, Rzeczpospolita writes.

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"The supply of ammunition to Poland was blocked – more or less directly – by the South African government due to fears that it could be sent to Ukraine. However, South Africa is closer to Russia, with which, among other things, it is a member of the BRICS alliance," the newspaper explained.

Poland signed a contract with Rheinmetall for 155-mm artillery shells a few months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is now August 2024, but Poland has received none, Rzeczpospolita notes.

The Armament Policy Department, a division of the Polish Ministry of Defense, told the outlet that the contract was terminated on July 20, 2023 due to problems related to its implementation by a subcontractor.

Rheinmetall did not respond to the newspaper's questions.

However, it turned out that ammunition for Poland was to be produced by the South African company Rheinmetall Denel Munition. And this is exactly the "problematic" subcontractor that the representatives of the ministry are referring to.

Poland needs at least 1 million 155mm artillery rounds to effectively defend against a potential Russian attack, Rzeczpospolita notes.

The Polish state-owned giant Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, according to the statements of its former president Sebastian Chwałek, is capable of producing about 30,000 155 mm rounds per year. This is the maximum potential of PGZ, provided that the subcontractors, mostly from Slovakia, fulfill their contracts.

"Simply put, today Poland is unable to produce 155-mm ammunition on its own," the outlet concludes.

In mid-August, it was reported that the private Polish company ZSP Niewiadów sp. z o. o. plans to build a factory for the production of 155-mm artillery shells with a capacity of 180,000 shells per year. The estimated cost of the project is 1 billion zlotys (over $250 million).

On February 12, 2024, Germany's Rheinmetall began construction of a new Werk Niedersachsen ammunition plant in Germany. According to plans, it will start working in a year, and in three years it will reach the planned capacity of 200,000 artillery shells.

On July 24, Rheinmetall announced that it had received a contract for the construction of an ammunition plant in Ukraine.