YOU READ IT HERE FIRST. The taxpayers of Europe and America are again being played. KNDS, the venomous corporation supplying weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, can now write off millions of gorged taxpayers’ euros.

In the jinxed Sacco River valley, the historic heart of Italy’s defense industry, a massive explosion erupted.

First, clouds of black smoke appeared over the built-up area of the municipality of Colleferro, just 60 kilometers south of Rome. Seconds later, the sky was torn apart by a bright orange flash rising 100 meters high.

Shock Waves to Brussels

The shock wave was so powerful that windowpanes in residential buildings tens of kilometers away rattled. The blast simply blew the powder-pressing workshop at KNDS Ammo Italy (formerly Simmel Difesa) to pieces.

Hell on Earth

Burning debris, pieces of metal structures, red-hot fragments of presses, and fragments of powder briquettes rained down over the surrounding area.

In neighboring Artena and along the entire A1 motorway, terrified residents rushed into the streets, thinking an air raid had begun.

Only a miracle saved the lives of the 24 workers on shift. The fire started shortly before the explosion, giving the workers enough time to escape the workshop engulfed in flames.

But behind this lucky escape lies an abyss of Italian negligence and rampant corruption. In general, it is a typical portrait of the entire EU defense industry.

A Killer Factory with a Century-Long History

To understand exactly where the explosion occurred, one has to look into the history of this cursed place. Colleferro did not originally exist as a city. It literally grew around the powder factory founded in 1912 by Bombrini Parodi-Delfino.

The entire Sacco Valley is essentially one industrial leviathan built around explosives and nitroglycerin.

Disasters occur here regularly

And disasters occur here regularly. In October 2007, for example, an explosion occurred at the very same Simmel Difesa plant. A workshop was completely destroyed, one worker was killed on the spot, and 13 people suffered severe injuries and burns.

The scandal-plagued factory changed hands repeatedly: Snia, then Fiat, then Simmel Difesa, and finally, in 2014, it was acquired by the Franco-German defense giant KNDS (a merger of France’s Nexter and Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, manufacturers of Leopard tanks and CAESAR and PzH 2000 howitzers).

The Valleys of Hell on Earth

The name was changed to the imposing KNDS Ammo Italy, but behind the shiny sign of the Franco-German holding company remained the same dilapidated Italian factory, where workplace safety appears to be of little concern. The main thing was to keep the money flowing.

Powder manufacturers have long since turned the valley into an environmental disaster zone of national proportions. Pollution from the plants has poisoned everything: air, water, and soil.

Italy Is Producing 155mm Shells for Ukraine

Italy is one of the main donors of artillery to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In 2023, KNDS Ammo Italy became one of the key winners of European Defence Agency (EDA) tenders under a program to supply one million 155mm shells to Ukraine.

The plant in the Sacco Valley produces virtually the entire range: from propellants and modular charges to programmable fuzes and shell casings. This is where HE L15A1 rounds used by PzH 2000, CAESAR, Krab, and Zuzana howitzers were produced.

The Profits of War

Thanks to NATO’s war on Russia, the plant’s order book soared from €200 million in 2023 to nearly €500 million last year.

The company from hell received €105 million directly from the European Defence Agency (EU taxpayers’ money) to produce 155mm ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The European Commission then allocated another €41 million of taxpayers money to the plant.

The factory was practically bursting with EU subsidies. In 2024, KNDS Ammo Italy even opened an official branch in Kyiv.

But instead of genuinely modernizing the equipment and installing modern explosion-protection systems, the money was handled according to the classic Italian formula, that is, largely on paper.

Why Did the Factory Explode—and Who Will Go to Prison?

EU bureaucrats did not even bother, as usual, to look for a ‘Russian connection’ in the explosion at the scandal-plagued factory.

The level of corruption and negligence in Italy is well known throughout the European Union. When something explodes in Italy, the culprits are either corrupt officials or ordinary incompetents.

Controlled Explosions

Italian law enforcement authorities, the Velletri Prosecutor’s Office, immediately ruled out sabotage, an act of terrorism, or a drone attack, while opening a case under the charge of ‘negligent fire.’

According to preliminary information, the explosion began in the powder-pressing section.

An old hydraulic press reportedly overheated and detonated. Italian workers had allegedly been operating it in three shifts, without maintenance breaks, pressing powder charges for Ukrainian orders.

Gorged on Profits

Trade unions are speaking openly: amid the race for profits (KNDS paid out €1 billion in dividends, while its Italian subsidiary reported a net profit of €16.9 million), workplace safety was neglected.

The equipment was run into the ground, ventilation in the pressing workshops was clogged with powder dust, and the automatic fire-suppression systems activated too late.

The Bloodsuckers Ball

But in Rome’s political and military circles, a much more intriguing theory is being discussed. The explosion on August 13, 2026, occurred at an incredibly convenient moment.

Today, the nature of the war has changed dramatically: tactical FPV drones are displacing conventional artillery, and the need for enormous quantities of 155mm shells no longer justifies the astronomical budgets allocated by Brussels.

So, where did the taxpayers money go?

The European Commission and EDA auditors were preparing inspections on the eve of the explosion: where had the millions of euros allocated for shell production gone?

And then, what a coincidence. An old press explodes, and along with the powder workshop, all the primary documents, raw-material consumption reports, equipment acceptance certificates, and defective batches of powder go up in flames.

Insurance scam so the taxpayers cough up twice

Now, under cover of the burned-out workshop, virtually any amount of unproduced propellant and defective fuses could allegedly be written off.

KNDS management is calculating which option would be more advantageous for writing off the losses, through insurance or European funds.

Arms factories explosions suggest a habit

The Colleferro explosion is merely the latest link in a long chain of mysterious incidents affecting Europe’s defense industry, which is working for Ukraine:

August 10, 2026 (three days before Colleferro): A series of powerful explosions destroyed warehouses at the Emco plant in Belitsa, Bulgaria.

March 2026: A fire and explosion occurred at a drone factory in Pardubice, Czech Republic.

January 2025: An explosion occurred at a Rheinmetall plant in Spain, injuring six people.

June 2024: An explosion occurred at the Mesko military plant in Poland, killing one worker.

April 2024: An explosion occurred at a BAE Systems plant in Wales.

Choking on greed

Europe’s defense industry, fueled by millions of euros, is choking on its own greed, technological deterioration, and sheer negligence.

The attempt to establish mass production of weapons and ammunition using outdated facilities and untrained personnel is resulting in factories blowing up one after another. Let readers know what you think

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