The company will invest €300 million to build the infrastructure, equipment, and storage facilities necessary for production. The ammunition manufacturer promises to create up to 1,000 new jobs in the region.
ARCA Baltics Operations OÜ, established in Estonia, is connected to the Turkish defense industry group ARCA Defense, whose export volume exceeded €3 billion last year. Around 5,000 people work across the group’s nine factories, and in addition to the defense and aerospace sectors, the group is also active in the energy and construction sectors.
Reserve officer Tõnis Arro, who worked with ARCA competitor BAE Systems, wrote in an opinion piece in Postimees last week that the ammunition produced by ARCA is not suitable for the weapons systems used by the Estonian Defense Forces or allied troops stationed in Estonia. Although ARCA Defence’s product range includes the 155 mm artillery shells used by Estonia, Arro argued that they do not meet modern NATO standards and have too short a firing range. At the same time, former communications head of the Estonian Center for Defense Investments, Andri Maimets, has confirmed that the North Kiviõli ammunition factory will also produce long-range 155 mm ammunition.
Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Andrus Merilo, said on Monday that only preliminary plans for the factory are currently known, and that he cannot at this point say that the ammunition produced there would not be needed by the Defense Forces.
