- The European Defence Agency will coordinate the Joint Ammunition Qualification program with $57.5 million in EU funding, initially focused on 155 mm artillery rounds
- The program aims to create common testing standards so ammunition approved in one participating country can be accepted across other EU member states without repeated qualification trials
The European Defence Agency (EDA) will coordinate a new Joint Ammunition Qualification (JAQ) program backed by €50 million ($57.5 million) in European Commission funding under the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), with an initial focus on 155 mm artillery ammunition.
The initiative is aimed at streamlining how artillery ammunition is tested and approved across participating European countries. It comes as European armed forces continue to prioritize faster procurement and interoperability of 155 mm rounds, a caliber identified by member states as an urgent requirement.
At present, each member state applies its own national procedures to verify that ammunition is safe and performs as required. This means a manufacturer supplying the same 155 mm round to several countries often has to repeat testing and approval processes multiple times, even when the product itself does not change.
According to the EDA, the JAQ program is intended as a first step toward a more harmonized European approach to ammunition qualification. The core objective is to establish common procedures so that ammunition tested and approved in one participating country would no longer need to be re-tested in another.
Ammunition qualification includes testing for safety, reliability, ballistic consistency, compatibility with weapon systems, and storage durability. For 155 mm artillery rounds, this typically includes checks on range performance, fuze function, fragmentation effects, pressure levels, and safe use across different howitzer platforms.
The focus on 155 mm artillery ammunition reflects its central role across NATO and European land forces. The caliber is used by systems such as the CAESAR, PzH 2000, M109, Krab, and Archer, making common qualification standards particularly relevant for joint operations and shared stockpiles.
According to the agency, the primary goal of JAQ is to lay the foundation for a common EU-level qualification framework. Such a framework would improve cross-border interoperability and simplify procurement across multiple defense ministries, especially where the same NATO-standard ammunition is being sourced from common industrial suppliers.
EDA said its role in the project builds on two decades of work in test and evaluation (T&E). During that period, the agency has supported member states in moving from nationally driven testing toward more coordinated European approaches by helping identify common standards and linking test centers across the continent.
That experience is now being applied directly to ammunition testing. The agency said the same model that previously helped reduce duplication in other defense testing areas will now be used to improve ammunition certification and acceptance procedures.
With countries replenishing national stockpiles and maintaining support for ongoing operational commitments, the ability to qualify ammunition faster across multiple states has become a growing priority.