EU Commission gives 500 mln euros to firms to boost ammunition production capacity

BRUSSELS, March 15 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Friday announced 500 million euros ($544.30 million) in funding awards to European companies to ramp up ammunition production capacity under a scheme to get more shells to Ukraine and replenish the stockpiles of European Union countries.

The funding awards under the ASAP scheme ranged from 47 million euros to 2.1 million euros for projects coordinated by companies including Rheinmetall, Nammo, Chemring Nobel, Hellenic Defence Systems, Eurenco and others.

"Today, the Commission allocated the €500 million foreseen under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP)," the Commission said in a statement.

"This will allow the European defence industry to ramp up its ammunition production capacity to 2 million shells per year by the end of 2025."

($1 = 0.9186 euros) (Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)