Eurometaal
{{Short description|Former ammunition company in the Netherlands}}
{{Infobox company
|name = Eurometaal
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|industry = Small Arms, Munitions, Explosives
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|location_city =
|location_country = Zaandam, Netherlands
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Eurometaal was one of the leading ammunition producing companies of the Netherlands.{{cite book|last1=Gummett|first1=Philip|last2=Stein|first2=Josephine Anne|title=European defence technology in transition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rKrzafo1rN0C&pg=PA187|accessdate=28 April 2011|year=1997|publisher=Harwood Academic Publishers|isbn=978-90-5702-149-7|page=187}} Its headquarters were in Zaandam.[http://www.top500.de/details/717/eurometaal_nv_netherlands.php Top 500], Top500.de
History
Originally, Eurometaal was an industrial military complex that set up camp in Zaandam around 1900, and adopted the name Eurometaal in 1973.{{cite book|last1=Klinkert|first1=Wim|title=Defending Neutrality: The Netherlands prepares for War, 1900-1925|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ykps_FyIPAsC|access-date=2016-06-23|year=2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004252509|page=336}} Eurometaal has developed weaponry for the Royal Netherlands Army from NR20 C1 hand grenades to tanks.{{cite web|url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=558|title=Eurometaal Nr20 Anti-Personnel Fragmentation Hand Grenade (1990)|website=Militaryfactory.com|access-date=2016-06-23}}
In the nineties, an employee of the hand grenade factory in Liebenau revealed that their grenades were used in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, which created a PR nightmare and led to the shutdown of the factory in Germany in 1993. The arms created in Germany had transited through the Netherlands before being delivered to Turkey, amid a German ban on arm trades with Turkey.{{cite web|url=http://www.ravagedigitaal.org/1997/242/Eurometaal_de_l242.htm|title=Eurometaal De Lucht In|website=Ravagedigital.org|date=19 September 1997|author=Alex van Veen|language=nl|access-date=2016-06-23}}
Eurometaal was a producer M864 and M483A1 projectiles. It also had the licence to produce American DPICMs that it was producing both in Zaandam (since 1989) and in Turkey through a partnership with MKEK (since 1994). This production stopped in 2002.{{cite book|title=Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JKevqfRQiK4C|accessdate=2016-06-23|year=2009|publisher=Monitor|isbn=9780973895544|page=288}} Following the European defense conversion program, Eurometaal successfully diversified its activities to gear to civilians, by laying off hundreds of employees and acquiring existing civil companies.
In 1999, Rheinmetall increased its stake in Eurometaal to 66%. In 2002, Rheinmetall sold Eurometaal's subsidiary Intergas (manufacturer of furnaces and boilers) and closed Eurometaal altogether.{{cite web|url=http://www.rheinmetall-defence.com/en/rheinmetall_defence/company/corporate_history/index~4.php|title=Chronicle 1999-2010|website=Rheinmetall-defence.com|access-date=2016-06-23}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Category:Companies based in North Holland
Category:Former defence companies of the Netherlands
Category:Ammunition manufacturers
{{Netherlands-company-stub}}