https://sputnikglobe.com/20230622/us-ramps-up-artillery-shell-production-as-ukraines-offensive-sputters-1111402165.html
US Ramps Up Artillery Shell Production as Ukraine’s Offensive Sputters
US Ramps Up Artillery Shell Production as Ukraine’s Offensive Sputters
Sputnik International
Washington and its allies have delivered over $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including billions of dollars in artillery and howitzer shells and advanced long-range missiles. The support has proven insufficient to ensure the success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which has bogged down in the fields of Zaporozhye and the Donbass.
2023-06-22T15:21+0000
2023-06-22T15:21+0000
2023-06-22T15:37+0000
military
ukraine
russia
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tnt
high mobility artillery rocket system (himars)
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The United States has dramatically increased the production of 155mm artillery shells to try to overcome shortages caused by deliveries to Ukraine, US Army Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions Doug Bush has announced.Bush assured that the US military is well on course to replenishing its pre-2022 stockpiles, stressing that the country is “not going to run out.”Other recent reports suggest that NATO is already reaching a critical point on the availability of ammo for Ukraine, with media reporting last week that Washington and Tokyo were in talks on the transfer of 155mm shells from Japan to the US for transshipment to Ukraine, which has already expended two million+ shells of this type. Separately this month, it was reported that the US had agreed to buy Japanese TNT for the production of 155mm shells in the US.Last month, Sputnik reported that South Korea, another major US non-NATO ally, had also been recruited to help the alliance replenish its ammo supplies – including 155mm artillery shells, amid growing shortages.In April, US business media learned that a massive explosion at a major black powder factory in Louisiana in 2021 left the US military-industrial complex without its only domestic source of the explosive material, which is also used in 155mm shells.Chinese military expert Qin An recently told Sputnik that the US’ latest, $325 million, military aid package to Ukraine shows that American funds and weapons stockpiles may be drying up, and that a “quantitative change” in support may “gradually lead to a qualitative change.”Russia, which has done its best to destroy stockpiles of NATO-delivered arms to Ukraine before they actually reach the front, has reported daily on Kiev’s heavy use of howitzers and HIMARS rockets against civilian settlements in Donbass, indicating that much of the supplies being sent by the West are simply wasted in tactically pointless terror attacks.The sputtering of Ukraine’s ongoing offensive in Donbass and Zaporozhye shows that despite NATO intelligence support, including extensive satellite imagery of Russia’s fortified defensive lines, Kiev has proven unable to use its Western-sourced artillery to destroy or "soften up" Russian positions to allow for major breakthroughs. Instead, Ukrainian forces have been forced to engage in suicidal frontal attacks which have resulted in the loss of hundreds of armored vehicles and tanks, including the much-hyped Leopard and Leopard 2 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, alongside thousands of troops.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230529/south-korea-races-to-feed-europes-insatiable-hunger-for-weapons--1110765482.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230621/ukrainian-drone-hits-residential-building-in-downtown-donetsk-1111356080.html
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US Ramps Up Artillery Shell Production as Ukraine’s Offensive Sputters
15:21 GMT 22.06.2023 (Updated: 15:37 GMT 22.06.2023) Washington and its allies have delivered over $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including billions of dollars in artillery and howitzer shells and advanced long-range missiles. The support has proven insufficient to ensure the success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which has bogged down in the fields of Zaporozhye and the Donbass.
The United States has dramatically increased the production of 155mm artillery shells to try to overcome shortages caused by deliveries to Ukraine, US Army Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions Doug Bush has announced.
“We are on a very rapid path to get to really high numbers,” Bush said in an interview with US business media on Thursday, noting that production of 155mm shells has jumped from about 14,000 a month before February 2022 to about 24,000 a month now. The US also plans to ramp up output to upwards of 70,000-80,000 shells a month by fiscal year 2025, he added.
Bush assured that the US military is well on course to replenishing its pre-2022 stockpiles, stressing that the country is “not going to run out.”
Defense industry executives tell a different story, telling media that the US and its allies are still “struggling” to ramp up the production of key ammo used by Ukrainian forces, including M142 HIMARS rockets and air defense missiles. Lockheed Martin COO Frank St. John said it will take the defense giant 18-24 months to get its ammo-producing factories running at full capacity, citing “long-cycle production belts,” and saying that Ukraine is eating up as much as a year’s worth ammo on a monthly basis.
Other recent reports
suggest that NATO is already reaching a critical point on the availability of ammo for Ukraine, with media reporting last week that Washington and Tokyo were in talks on the transfer of 155mm shells from Japan to the US for transshipment to Ukraine, which has already expended two million+ shells of this type. Separately this month, it was reported that the US had agreed to buy Japanese TNT for the production of 155mm shells in the US.
Last month, Sputnik
reported that South Korea, another major US non-NATO ally, had also been recruited to help the alliance replenish its ammo supplies – including 155mm artillery shells, amid growing shortages.
In April, US business media
learned that a massive explosion at a major black powder factory in Louisiana in 2021 left the US military-industrial complex without its only domestic source of the explosive material, which is also used in 155mm shells.
Chinese military expert Qin An recently
told Sputnik that the US’ latest, $325 million, military aid package to Ukraine shows that American funds and weapons stockpiles may be drying up, and that a “quantitative change” in support may “gradually lead to a qualitative change.”
Russia, which has
done its best to destroy stockpiles of NATO-delivered arms to Ukraine before they actually reach the front, has reported daily on Kiev’s heavy use of howitzers and HIMARS rockets against civilian settlements in Donbass, indicating that much of the supplies being sent by the West are simply wasted in tactically pointless terror attacks.
The sputtering of Ukraine’s ongoing offensive in Donbass and Zaporozhye shows that despite NATO intelligence support, including extensive satellite imagery of Russia’s
fortified defensive lines, Kiev has proven unable to use its Western-sourced artillery to destroy or "soften up" Russian positions to allow for major breakthroughs. Instead, Ukrainian forces have been forced to engage in suicidal frontal attacks which have resulted in the loss of hundreds of armored vehicles and tanks, including the much-hyped Leopard and Leopard 2 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, alongside thousands of troops.
