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Estonia has secured a new milestone in its push to build a domestic defence manufacturing base. This month, the state signed agreements with four companies that will set up factories at the Ermistu defence industrial park in Pärnumaa county, per official press release.
The four firms are Nitrotol OÜ, Frankenburg Technologies OÜ, Infinitum Strike OÜ, and Odin Defence OÜ — the latter being the Estonian-registered subsidiary of UK company Thor Industries Ltd.
Between them, they will cover a broad range of munitions production: Nitrotol will manufacture military explosives, mines and charges; Frankenburg will build a factory complex for short-range air defence missiles; Infinitum Strike will produce ammunition components; and Odin Defence will manufacture plastic explosives.
All four companies plan to begin production in 2027, and the park is expected to have room for one or two additional tenants beyond the current group.
A two-year sprint
The agreements cap a process that moved unusually fast by defence infrastructure standards. Estonia’s Centre for Defence Investment (RKIK) launched a public tender for the park’s use in April 2025, and the state has since completed a special planning procedure — including environmental impact assessments — within less than two years. The contracts were in fact signed in December 2025, with RKIK now confirming the planning procedure is complete.
Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur highlighted the pace: “We have managed in less than two years to carry out a special planning procedure with the necessary studies and environmental impact assessment, and from the announcement of the tender to the signing of contracts. I thank all the partners for their good co-operation and the local people for their understanding.”
The state is investing over €50M in base infrastructure at Ermistu — roads, electricity grid and associated facilities — with the four companies making comparable investments of their own.
Why Ermistu matters
Ermistu will be Estonia’s first production environment built specifically for ammunition manufacturing, making it a strategically significant project rather than just another industrial estate.
“As a result of a thorough tendering process, we have opened the way for the first four companies to produce ammunition in Estonia,” said Asko Kivinuk, deputy director-general of RKIK. “This is a critical industry that makes it possible to support national defence with domestic ammunition and also enables greater defence industry exports.”
Several of the companies involved are already active in Estonian defence manufacturing: Nitrotol opened the country’s first munitions facility in nearly a century at the Ämari Air Base in January 2026, and will operate across both sites once Ermistu is running.
