Ethiopia has opened its own ammunition manufacturing facility.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the country depended on imports until three years ago. Now, Ethiopia can produce ammunition locally and even export it.
He also stated that Ethiopia has secured ammunition export deals worth over $30 million in the last three months.
“In 2014 [2022], we were importing ammunition. Now we are self-reliant for AK-47, DShK, and artillery ammunition,” Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on last week Wednesday when inaugurating the Hamicho Ammunition Engineering Industry, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.
He was accompanied by Defense Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, and Oromia Regional State President Shimeles Abdissa.
The ammunition factory was completed in less than two years, according to the Ethiopian PM. Homicho Ammunition Engineering Complex is the part of Metals and Engineering Corporation and is also one of the military production facilities of the Ethiopian Defense Industry Sector. It specializes in producing wide range of ammunition for use by the Ethiopian National Defense Force.
The center produces wide range of ammunition ranging from light weapons to heavy mortars and artillery, including those for Kalashnikov rifles, Bren guns, sniper rifles, DShK heavy machine guns, and tank artillery.
In addition to local consumption, he says that Ethiopia has started exporting ammunition to other countries. “Only within the last three months alone, we have sold not less than 30 million dollars,” Abiy Ahmed said. He was speaking about it in a celebratory mood, as seen from the video footage state media aired.
He added, “The job of handing over a better Ethiopia to our children is taking shape in every sector in a beautiful way.” He also claims the changes in the defense industry are “promising.”
Abiy Ahmed has been in power since 2018. Ethiopia saw one of the most devastating wars in its history under his leadership. The war between his government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)-led Tigray regional government is estimated to have claimed the lives of more than one million people. Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions of Ethiopia were devastated by the war.
The ammunition factory was reportedly started towards the end of the war. Then again, his government started a full-fledged war in the Amhara region in August 2023 under the pretext of a “law enforcement operation.” Initially, his government announced that the operation would be brief.
Meanwhile, the ammunition factory is coming a few weeks before the commissioning of a drone production facility by Sky Wing. On Saturday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated Sky Wing Industry, a new company dedicated to producing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for both civilian and military purposes.