Diehl Opens New 155mm Shell Body Line in Germany as Europe Races to Make More Artillery Ammunition

Germany has added another link to its artillery ammunition chain. Diehl Metall and Diehl Defence opened a new production line in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz, near Nuremberg, on November 10 to make the steel bodies for 155mm artillery shells, according to the German defence publication ESUT.

The shell bodies are for DiNa ammunition, produced by Diehl together with Norway's Nammo. Pilot series production has been running since October.

Why shell bodies matter

A modern artillery round is only as available as its slowest component, and forged steel shell bodies have been one of Europe's tightest bottlenecks since the war in Ukraine began draining stocks. Explosives, fuzes and propellant charges get most of the attention, but without enough bodies, filling plants sit idle.

The Röthenbach line converts an existing production hall of about 7,000 square metres. Its core is two new forging presses. Diehl says it invested a mid double-digit million euro sum and did not disclose annual capacity.

Finished 155mm shell bodies on a production line. File photo (CC0).

Backed by a Bundeswehr order

The project started in June 2024 after Germany's procurement agency, BAAINBw, significantly expanded its framework contract with the Diehl-Nammo partnership for DiNa ammunition. ESUT describes it as the largest framework contract for conventional munitions in Diehl Defence's history. The number of shells ordered has not been made public.

Diehl Defence chief executive Helmut Rauch said the project depends on cooperation between the companies, a nod to the cross-border setup in which Nammo, Diehl Defence and Diehl Metal Forgings each handle different stages of production.

Part of a wider race

Europe has been trying to break its dependence on a handful of shell makers. Rheinmetall has opened a large new plant at Unterlüß, and similar expansions are under way in Norway, Poland and elsewhere. The goal is to rebuild stocks drained by deliveries to Ukraine and to sustain a long war of attrition if needed, something NATO planners now treat as a realistic scenario.

For Germany, every new domestic source of shell bodies reduces the risk that a single factory problem can stall the supply of rounds to PzH 2000 howitzers and the newer systems the Bundeswehr is buying.