Dozens of documents posted on the public procurement website outline plans for a significant expansion of explosives production. Additional explosives can help significantly increase the firepower of the Russian Armed Forces, Reuters reports, UNN reports.
Details
Russia is expanding plants in Siberia to increase the production of powerful explosives. This is demonstrated by publicly available government documents, as well as satellite images obtained by Reuters.
The documents show that a new production line is being built at the Biysk Oleum Plant (BOZ), owned by the state-owned defense company "Plant named after Ya. M. Sverdlov", a major Russian manufacturer of military-grade explosives.
Previously, amid a reduction in its own volume of ammunition in the brutal war against Ukraine, Moscow had to import a significant number of shells from North Korea.
North Korean shells were mostly of poor quality, according to Jack Watling, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British security think tank.
So now, it is about expanding the production of components for artillery shells, as well as other ammunition - that is, what is constantly used in the current Russian-Ukrainian war.
What explosives are we talking about?
In comments to Reuters, the experts interviewed were divided. The opinion was expressed regarding the production of octogen (HMX) - a high explosive that detonates quickly. HMX is designed for maximum destruction purposes. There is also an opinion about the start of production of hexogen (RDX) - a high explosive that is not currently produced at the Sverdlov Plant.
In the depths of Siberia
The BOZ plant is located approximately 3,000 km east of the Russian capital, Moscow. The plant is located near the Siberian city of Biysk.
Satellite images of the site show the construction of new buildings and other infrastructure, the publication writes.
A person close to the project and a construction contractor, according to Reuters, confirmed to the editors on condition of anonymity that the process of significant expansion of the BOZ is currently underway. At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to detailed questions from the journalists of the Reuters editorial office.
To continue the war, Russia needs more explosives
The production of high explosives follows an annual plan. According to the draft design contract, it is about the production of 6,000 metric tons of high explosives annually. But this is subject to the completion of the planned expansion in 2025.
Thomas Klapötke, an explosives expert at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, commented on this volume, noting that it is obviously capable of "bringing" the Russian military machine "great benefit".
Reference
The production capacity, for example, will be sufficient to fill the warheads of 1.28 million Russian OF-29 artillery shells, a common long-range 152 mm shell.
The Reuters editorial board reaches this conclusion using scientific literature and the verification of another explosives expert.
The authors of the material also provide information that in 2024, Russia produced about 2 million artillery shells of 122 mm and 152 mm caliber. This data was reported to Reuters by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR).
Explosives production code
Regarding the expansion at the plant near Biysk, the relevant plans are outlined in dozens of documents. They, as the publication writes, were posted by the Main Directorate of Special Construction of the Ministry on the public procurement website between February 2023 and September 2024.
Both in procurement documents that sought tenders to help build the necessary infrastructure and in city council documents, a code is used to indicate what will be produced: "GOST RV 1376-001-2006".
The design tender posted on the public procurement website uses a code to indicate what will be produced at the new facility: "GOST RV 1376-001-2006".
This was the code for hexogen (RDX), according to a list of codes contained in instructions issued by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2014 for enterprises seeking to purchase explosives for industrial purposes.
The publication also investigated that the relevant instructions were posted on consultant.ru, a commercial online database of Russian laws and regulations. The latter, according to procurement data, are used by Russian government agencies.
The details in the new plans correspond to the production of RDX or HMX. The documents identify sites for the production of urotropin and the storage of nitric acid - chemicals necessary for the manufacture of both explosives.
Let us remind you
In the Russian Federation, important objects of the defense industry were attacked, including the developer of the "SPLAV" MLRS, the Design Bureau of Instrument Engineering, and the "Shaykovka" and "Kubinka" airfields. The fiber optic systems plant in Saransk was also hit.
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