- cross-posted to:
- ukraine@sopuli.xyz
- cross-posted to:
- ukraine@sopuli.xyz
A large-scale blast hit an ammunition factory in the Italian town of Colleferro, near Rome, on Aug. 13, local authorities and regional media reported.
The factory is operated by KNDS Ammo Italy, a subsidiary of the French-German defense firm KNDS. The facility produces 155 mm artillery shells supplied to Ukraine via European partners.
The explosion caused a fire and a loud blast that could be heard by residents in nearby districts, the Italian outlet AGI reported. The fire broke out in the plant’s gunpowder processing and compression unit.
Emergency crews arrived on the scene and employees reached the designated safe zones in accordance with evacuation protocols, AGI reported. The incident caused no casualties.
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KNDS Ammo Italy manufactures large- and medium-caliber munitions for land and naval forces. It also cooperates with Ukraine on the production of NATO-standard 155 mm ammunition under agreements with the European Defense Agency.
In addition to artillery, Ukraine receives multiple weapons systems produced by KNDS Group, including the Caesar artillery gun, the Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun tank, and the PzH 2000 armored howitzer.
The defense firm opened its first office in Ukraine in October 2025.
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The blast at KNDS Ammo Italy comes a week after a drone outfitted with explosives was found near a Ukrainian aircraft at the Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany. The so-called “modified drone” was discovered on Aug. 4 next to a Ukrainian Antonov Airlines An-124 transport plane, while a second drone collided with an incoming cargo plane.
A bomb disposal robot was deployed to carry out a controlled explosion at the airfield, preventing further damage.
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German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt also described the incident as a “hybrid attack scenario.” While he did not name Russia, the incident is consistent with a pattern of Kremlin-linked hybrid warfare operations in European countries in recent years.
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So incompetence or sabotage?
I used to live in Huntsville Alabama. lots of military contractors making rockets. Every once in a while they exploded.
It didn’t help that on one end of redstone arsenal was a bomb disposal school and at the other end was a demolition school.
Shit was blowing up all the time, and making the walls rattle. And you never knew if it was on purpose or an accident.
Yeah, rockets explode once in a while. But there are so many similar incidents in Europe related to the support for Ukraine that it’s hard to believe they are accidents.
Just a week ago there was a failed drone attack on an Antonov cargo lane with Ukrainian ammunition at the German Leipzig airport with a huge amount of Semtex. It failed (not clear why exactly yet), but it would be the second incident in a very short time. But of course it could be coincidence, it is not unlikely stuff like this accidentally happens.
That’s the Beauty of this kind of warfare. It’s really hard to pin it down.
It’s factory making explosive and running at full capacity for years. Accidents happen. And with a little help from Russian, they happen more often.
I’m pretty sure all the explosions at Redstone Arsenal are on controlled experiments. Almost got a job there and they made it seem like they dont have accidents with bombs randonly going off in your hands
I was there for 20 years. I remember at least one contractor had an event, maybe even two. It blew the windows out of a near by apartment complex. But technically that wasn’t on the arsenal.
Back in the day, when they were testing larger missiles they had some incidents. Enough to convince them to move most testing out to white sands.
After all Von Braun was working there.
Supposedly, when they tested the Saturn 5 engines the whole county shook.
There needs to be a movie about a contest between these schools gon wrong somewhere.
It’s the US army, we don’t need a contest to make things go horribly wrong. That’s just a Monday.