ctg. morning brief, 24 Oct 2026
On 24 Oct 2026, Lithuania's environment agency signed off on Rheinmetall's ammunition plant in Radviliškis district (23 Oct): up to 75,000 155mm artillery shells a year, per LRT/BNS. Construction started in November 2025. The permit caught up with the bulldozers, not the other way round.
Why it matters: The plant belongs to Rheinmetall Defence Lietuva: Rheinmetall 51%, state-owned Epso-G 48%, Giraitė Armament Plant 1%. Per Epso-G boss Mindaugas Keizeris in September, it is a roughly €300m build with 45 buildings on a 340-hectare site, about 150 staff, and production should start in the first half of 2027. Rheinmetall also plans a propellant charge competence centre in Lithuania worth about €400m. A frontline NATO state filling its own shells beats waiting for trains from the west. Build first, permit in parallel. More of that, please.
Source: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/3091313/lithuania-s-environment-agency-greenlights-rheinmetall-ammo-factory
Finland and Ukraine signed seven agreements worth about €300m in Kyiv (22 Oct), per Zelenskyy via Interfax-Ukraine. The industrial one: Patria and Ukraine's Center for Unmanned Systems Research (General Chereshnia) will set up a joint venture in Finland to develop and build military and dual-use drones.
Why it matters: Bavovna Miltech and INSTA also signed intent to build heavy drones, bombers and carrier platforms, in Finland. PM Petteri Orpo said Finland will put up to €200m into a drone deal between the two countries, and ICEYE, Nokia and Ukraine's defence ministry signed a letter of intent on sovereign satellite comms. Ukraine has the combat-tested designs. The Nordics have safe factory floors and money. Edition candidate: Ukraine's drone industry is moving production onto EU soil. Which countries are ready to host it, and on what terms?
Source: https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/1224946.html
Lisbon drone maker Beyond Vision closed a Series A of more than €28m (22 Oct), co-led by Índico Capital Partners and Lince Capital, with ActiveCap following on, per EU-Startups.
Why it matters: Founded in 2013, a registered NATO supplier, now 150 people. The money goes into scaling industrial production plus AI and swarm capability. In 2025 it signed a €15m US contract for 300 emergency drones by 2028, and it plans a €50m US factory in 2027. Twelve years of building before defence money got fashionable. Good. Now Europe should make sure the next factory lands on this side of the Atlantic too.
Source: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/10/lisbons-beyond-vision-raises-over-e28-million-to-scale-ai-drones-for-civilian-and-defence-markets/
Two AI campus plans for Spain in one day (23 Oct). Oman-linked O-Green plans €7.4bn and 570MW in San Mateo de Gállego near Zaragoza, per El Economista via DCD. IREN set up IREN Europe and secured the civil works licence for a 300MW AI data centre in Badajoz.
Why it matters: Read the grid line. Per DCD, O-Green's documents show access permits for 80MW plus 10MW, so 90MW for phase one, live in 2029 at best. The rest hangs on capacity requests still pending. IREN has grid power in Badajoz but targets first operations in 2028 and has named no customer, per TIKR on Yahoo Finance. Megawatts in a press release are cheap. Megawatts on a substation are the real number.
Source: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/o-green-plans-data-center-campus-in-zaragoza-spain/