Anastasia Gorbacheva20:23, 08/03/234 min.
It is noted that most of the Ukrainian ammunition is suitable for Soviet weapons, and not for what NATO provided.
Ukraine’s need for ammunition is becoming more acute as the UAF counter-offensive continues. Stocks of Western partners are depleted in the 18th month of the war, so Kiev is trying to increase its own production .
The New York Times writes that the United States and its allies have sent millions of ammunition to Ukraine since a full-scale Russian invasion began in early 2022.
But faced with dwindling stocks and a Western arms industry struggling to keep up with demand, officials in Ukraine and in the Biden administration, NATO and the European Union are looking for new sources to deliver ammunition quickly.One of these sources is located in Ukraine itself.
The country’s nascent military industry produced twice as many mortar and artillery shells last month as it did in all of 2022, a senior government official said, with a counteroffensive against Russia dependent on the military having enough ammunition to keep fighting.
Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleksandr Kamyshin noted that this is “an important contribution to the counteroffensive.””I am confident that the defense industry will be the backbone of wartime security,” he said, predicting that “we will be the engine of economic recovery after the end of the war.” “But now I don’t pay much attention to it,” he said.
“It’s important for me to give more weapons to my army in order to push the Russians out.”It is not clear how much munitions Ukraine produced before the start of the war.
Ukrainian forces have long been threatened by an ammunition shortage as each side constantly fires mortars, rockets and artillery at the other.
According to the latest estimates, during the counteroffensive, which began in early June, Ukraine used up to 8,000 rounds of ammunition daily. Military analyst Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment, who recently visited the front lines, said the assessment was “plausible.”
When Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, its defense industry was one of the largest employers in the country, but it has dwindled over the past 30 years due to a lack of reliable military budgets.
According to the Foreign Policy Research Group, back in 2021, the Ukrainian Luch design bureau could supply the Ministry of Defense with no more than 800 missiles from an order for 2,000.
Kamyshin noted that there are “hundreds” of arms manufacturing enterprises in Ukraine, most of which are currently focused on the production of ammunition and drones.
According to him, the construction of armored vehicles, as well as armored personnel carriers, is also underway, and the Ukrainian industry has recently begun to produce ammunition for drones.
The official pointed out that most of the Ukrainian munitions produced are of Soviet-era caliber, meaning they fit many of the guns and rocket launchers long used by the Ukrainian military, but not the billion-dollar Western weapons systems that NATO countries have provided. after a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Last month, the Biden administration decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to make up for a shortage of 155mm rounds as troops slowly move forward to retake Russian-occupied territories in southern and southeastern Ukraine.
Cluster munitions are widely banned around the world because they can cause indiscriminate harm to civilians, especially children, which can cause unexploded ordnance to explode long after hostilities have ended.
Ammunition production in Ukraine – latest news
On July 9, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin said that in June Ukraine produced more mortar and artillery shells than in the whole of last year.
On July 25, the official indicated that Ukraine wants to become the largest arms producer in Europe , and will focus on the production of missiles.
(C)UNIAN 2023
80 years peace means 80 years of ammo-production, so where are these stocks, NATO?
You still don’t get it. Alles kanker! They are pacifists believing in appeasing enemies instead of confronting them. We probably have no working planes, tanks and no ammo in NATO.
“ The official pointed out that most of the Ukrainian munitions produced are of Soviet-era caliber, meaning they fit many of the guns and rocket launchers long used by the Ukrainian military, but not the billion-dollar Western weapons systems that NATO countries have provided. after a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.”
Don’t know how one transitions but I think it’s critical Ukrainian industry move to western calibers.
I think it’s still imperative that Ukraine does both. Still mass production of older style munitions, with a tandem production and expansion of NATO compliant munitions.
I seem to remember the 777s can fire both the 155s ammo and the 152s, is that what you remember?
Not sure RSM, does sound like a familiar ability of it….investigating….
I remember reading something a long time ago and one of the advantages was it could fire both calibres. Maybe the MSTA?
Export or modernized MSTAs do utilize the 155mm NATO standard shells.
https://www.militarytoday.com/artillery/2s19m1_155_msta_s.htm
Though theoretically possible with a slight mod to shell or some engineering feat it is not recommended to use the 152mm in an artillery piece chambered for 155mm.
The strategy of the collective West has been and still is amateurish and unbelievably stupid. They pussyfoot around, allowing this war to drag on, causing their much too meager stocks to get depleted and aren’t even capable of producing so much as to be sufficient for a single country.
No, you can’t make this stuff up.
The West is a mess. Japan, Korea, Nam, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and Ukraine should be in NATO when the iron curtain fell. But we did not exploit Moscow’s weakness, instead we ruined Yugoslavia and allowed Putin to take power. A complete failure of western strategy.
For some reason, the collective West had only total losers in its capital cities for the past 20 or so years. We now see the results of their deplorable politics. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians must feel the results.
I remember in the early 2000s people like me were called war mongers for pointing out what was happening in the russia. Then Obama famously told Romney, “The Cold War is over and the 80s want their foreign policy back.” There’s your A #1 idiot, pacifier and main source for Putin’s invasions into Ukraine. Oh, and that was LONG before Trump made a mess of things, take note Sir Scradge. 😉
American policy to Russia was a mess once Ron Reagan left.
Bush 1: Chicken Kiev (as it was then spelt).
Clinton : architect of Budapest, which conned Ukraine into thinking they were safe. In 2014, when the Memorandum should have been activated, Obama ignored it.
Bush 2: allowed France and Germany to dictate Nato policy: which led to the rehearsal for Ukraine; Georgia 2008. Then he compounded that by ignoring Russia’s theft of 20% of Georgia.
Obama “reset.”
Trump’s decision to rim the sick nazi in the kremlin.
Compared to those losers, even decrepit old Joe is an improvement. He’s kept Ukraine in the game; for which I’m grateful.
But his containment policy is causing terrible Ukraine losses.
But just the thought of a Trump presidency is the stuff of nightmares.