# Ethiopia commissions ammunition factory to ease supply chain

- Link: https://www.military.africa/2025/03/ethiopia-commissions-ammunition-factory-to-ease-supply-chain/
- Published: 2025-03-11T18:16:57+01:00
- Author: Kazim Abdul

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.

![Ethiopia ammunition Homicho Ammunition factory](https://www.military.africa/wp-
content/uploads/2025/03/ethiopia-ammunition-Homicho-Ammunition-factory-scaled.jpg)

![Ethiopia ammunition Homicho Ammunition factory](https://www.military.africa/wp-
content/uploads/2025/03/ethiopia-ammunition-Homicho-Ammunition-factory-2-scaled.
jpg)

![Ethiopia ammunition Homicho Ammunition factory](https://www.military.africa/wp-
content/uploads/2025/03/ethiopia-ammunition-Homicho-Ammunition-factory-3-scaled.
jpg)

![Homicho Ammunition Engineering Complex is a key component of the Ethiopian Defense
Industry Sector, now produces a wide](https://www.military.africa/wp-content/uploads/
2025/03/ethiopia-ammunition-Homicho-Ammunition-factory-4-scaled.jpg)

He was accompanied by Defense Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, and Oromia
Regional State President Shimeles Abdissa.

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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.

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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.

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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](https://www.military.africa/2025/03/ethiopias-sky-wing-begins-large-scale-drone-manufacturing/)
Sky Wing Industry, a new company dedicated to producing unmanned aerial vehicles(
UAVs) for both civilian and military purposes.

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