The army has already increased the production of 155 mm artillery shells. At the time of the attack on Ukraine in February 2022, 14,000 units were produced per month, last October it was already 28,000 units. By next October, it will rise to 60,000 pieces year-on-year, and in October 2025, production should reach one hundred thousand grenades per month.
The new factory in Garland, Texas, is to use, according to Bush, “a completely new method of manufacturing a cartridge that we have never used before.”
The question of increasing the production of large-caliber ammunition represents one of the key factors in the further course of the war, because the shelling of enemy positions from guns plays an important role in the tactics of both sides, when the front moves only minimally. Only after massive artillery shelling do smaller infantry units attempt to advance.
United States 155mm Ammunition Production Growth According to the Original and Revised Plan
Ukraine according to the letter The New York Times fires about 2,000 pieces of 152 and 155 mm artillery shells per day, while Russia five times more. The EU promised Ukraine that it would supply it with about a million grenades by the end of March, but in reality it will be a little over 350,000, because the production capacity is not enough. The Czech Republic therefore proposes that the EU supply Ukraine with ammunition purchased in third countries, which the French arms companies do not like. Because of this, their increase in the US is important.
The Czech Republic wants to buy ammunition for Ukraine outside the EU
But both sides feel the lack of ammunition. Russia first transported it from warehouses in Belarus, then large deliveries of grenades from North Korea began last year. Russia also imports them from Iran.
The amount of 155 mm ammunition used may change the way the US military thinks about artillery and how much it should have in stock. “If a larger stockpile is a way to reduce the risk of a major conflict, then we have to look at the need for it from that perspective,” Bush told the server Defense One.
Bush added that the investment in the production of 155 mm grenades will help increase the United States’ ability to produce ammunition of other calibers, as the investment will also increase in the production of ammunition and the production of metal casings and other components. Thanks to investments linked to the war in Ukraine, the United States will have a “much healthier” industrial base for the production of all types of munitions, Bush added.
However, the increase in production up to one hundred thousand pieces of manufactured grenades depends on the progress of the Congress, where the Republicans are now blocking the provision of additional money to help Ukraine. Part of the blocked $3.1 billion in aid to Ukraine is intended for the production of ammunition and the expansion of its production.
ANALYSIS: Why the US is ramping up artillery production faster than the EU
2024-02-07 06:13:02
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