As Europe and NATO seek to increase ammunition production, one of the most interesting presentations at the Eurosatory 2026 defence exhibition in Paris is not about a new tank, drone or missile system. Instead, it concerns a far less spectacular, but strategically crucial, part of the defence industry: an automated production line for filling primers and initiating caps.

The technology has been presented by FISAZA, a company formally headquartered in the United Arab Emirates but based on Croatian engineering expertise. Its stand in Paris has attracted attention because it offers a potential solution to one of the most serious bottlenecks in ammunition production. The war in Ukraine has exposed the fact that the Western defence industry had not been prepared for years to produce ammunition at the scale required by a prolonged high-intensity conflict.

The problem does not concern only artillery shells or final assembly lines. A major constraint lies in small initiating components — primers and caps — on which the entire ammunition system depends. Without them, even expanded production capacity in other parts of the supply chain is not enough. If the initiating component is missing, the production of finished ammunition cannot be rapidly increased.

Until now, this stage in many plants has largely been carried out manually. This has meant not only a slower pace of production, but also greater risk for workers. FISAZA proposes automating this process through patented dosing and filling technology, combined with its own component transport system based on levitating plates.

Instead of a conventional conveyor, the elements move magnetically. This is intended to increase precision, reduce the number of parts vulnerable to wear and failure, and almost completely remove direct human contact from the most dangerous stage of production. According to the company, a single such line can achieve production capacity three or four times higher than existing solutions available on the market.

If these claims are confirmed in industrial practice, the significance of the technology could be considerable. Europe has been struggling for months to increase ammunition production, especially artillery ammunition. NATO countries now know that purchasing new weapons systems alone is not enough unless there is a stable production base capable of quickly replenishing stockpiles.

That is why automating such an apparently small component can have strategic consequences. A primer or initiating cap may not be the most spectacular part of ammunition, but without it the entire process comes to a halt. A solution that makes it possible to produce these elements faster, more safely and with less manual labour could become an important part of rebuilding Europe’s defence-industrial capacity.

FISAZA’s international operating model is also noteworthy. The company presents itself as a UAE-based entity, but its technological development comes from Croatia. At the Paris stand, the Croatian and Emirati flags therefore appear side by side next to the company logo. This shows how engineering expertise from a smaller country can be combined with a business platform capable of entering the global defence market.

The target customers for the technology are NATO member states. FISAZA does not want merely to sell machines, but also to build partnerships and establish facilities at strategic locations within the Alliance. The company speaks of ten such locations, two of which it says have already been secured. It also announces a strategic project in Croatia itself.

The technology was first presented earlier at the World Defense Show in Riyadh, after which the first contracts for automated lines reportedly followed. Eurosatory in Paris is now its largest presentation before a global defence-industry audience.

The message from Paris is clear: while Europe searches for ways to accelerate ammunition production, one of the solutions may come from Croatian engineering. It is not a weapon in the traditional sense, but an industrial technology that could determine whether NATO countries are able to rebuild stockpiles faster and maintain the capacity for long-term defence.