US Awards $522 Million Ammo Contract For Ukraine Which Is Also Co-Producing Ammo With NATO

These two developments reveal that Ukraine, in cooperation with its allies, remains strategically and tactically focused on what it actually needs to prevail and is not wasting time or money on unnecessary expenditures. JL 

AFP and Olena Harmarsh in Reuters report:

The US Army awarded $522 million in orders to two companies to manufacture 155 mm artillery ammunition for Ukraine. Deliveries of the new ammunition are scheduled to begin in March.Ukraine's state arms producer said it launched joint production of artillery shells with a central European country in NATO, and that it plans to develop and produce other arms and military hardware with allies. It started producing 120-mm mortar rounds -- ammunition that is in high demand in Ukraine. It did not identify the NATO country for security reasons.

AFP The US Army announced Tuesday that it had awarded $522 million in orders to two companies to manufacture 155 mm artillery ammunition for Ukraine.

The orders, officially decided on January 30, went to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. and Global Military Products Inc. and came amid worries that Ukraine was fast depleting the stockpiles of artillery shells from the United States and other allies.

Deliveries of the new ammunition are scheduled to begin in March of this year,  the Army said in a statement.

The contract is funded by the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

Ukraine and Russia have fired huge amounts of artillery munitions at each other since the Russian invasion began almost a year ago.

In November a US official said Russian forces were firing about 20,000 artillery rounds a day.

Ukraine’s rate was between 4,000 and 7,000 rounds per day — faster than allied Western manufacturers can produce to keep pace.

The rates have plunged since then, as the winter set in and both sides face shortages and conserve ammunition.

“The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions, and depleting allied stockpiles,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.

“The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain,” he said.

 

Reuters Ukraine's state arms producer said on Wednesday it had launched joint production of artillery shells with a central European country in NATO, and that it plans to develop and produce other arms and military hardware with allies.

Ukroboronprom, which did not identify the NATO member state, said it had started producing 120-mm mortar rounds -- ammunition that is in high demand in Ukraine as it battles Russian troops following Moscow's invasion a year ago. "The emergence of this shell is the first product of our joint cooperation with a country from the (NATO) alliance. It will not end with shells, we will soon show you other products produced with partner countries," Ukroboronprom spokeswoman Natalia Sad told a news briefing.

"This is the onward movement and integration into cooperative chains with the North Atlantic alliance."

She said she would not identify the NATO country Ukroboronprom was working for security reasons, though she confirmed it was in central Europe.

 

Sad said Ukroboronprom had increased production on different types of military equipment by five to eight times last year compared with 2021. Companies were working round the clock to produce ammunition and keep supplies flowing, she said.

Ukraine has also depended heavily on weapons and ammunition supplies from its Western allies during the war.

Sad said 10 Ukroboronprom staff had been killed at work during the war, with Russia constantly shelling arms production facilities. Some of the facilities had been completely destroyed, she said, forcing the company to move production to safer areas.

 

Sad said mobile repair teams were carrying out 90-95% of all repairs of military equipment and armoured vehicles near the frontlines. When damage was severe, equipment was sent to production sites.

"We manage mostly on our own, but we are expanding this with the help of our partners, because we want it to be even faster,” she said.