US and NATO are fighting critical shortage of ammunition for Ukraine, - CNN
According to CNN, against the background of the war in Ukraine, the United States and Europe are in a hurry to increase the production of ammunition. As it turned out, the West had not adequately prepared for the possibility of a protracted land war in Europe after decades of relative peace.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to UNIAN.
In a conversation with the correspondent of the publication last week, the Minister of Defense of Great Britain, Ben Wallace, said that NATO had been preparing for an offensive that would last "one night and one day" from the very beginning. "No one really asked themselves, what if 'one night and one day' turns into 'two weeks, three weeks, four weeks'. How many of our fancy options do we really have?" - admitted Wallace.
U.S. officials interviewed by reporters said that U.S. bases around the world have a certain stockpile of ammunition. Their volume is classified, but it is said to be an emergency reserve that the military does not want to part with.
In fact, officials admit that the US is already approaching the "red limit" in terms of stockpiles of 155 mm projectiles, which they have to supply to Ukraine. Last year, the US began ramping up munitions production when it became clear that the war would drag on much longer than expected. But this production will reach an acceptable level only after a few years, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN.
That is why Washington decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine as a temporary measure until the production of unitary projectiles catches up with the needs.
A German government source told CNN that Berlin has also taken steps to try to close existing gaps in ammunition stocks. Moreover, we are talking not only about artillery, but also about projectiles for Gepard anti-aircraft guns, which were provided to Ukraine.
Great Britain will invest an additional 2.5 billion pounds in the production of ammunition and the expansion of storage capacity.
According to the Pentagon, to date, the United States has provided Ukraine with more than 2 million 155 mm caliber artillery shells. The Pentagon set a goal of producing 70,000 artillery shells per month, but so far it is producing just under 30,000. In February 2022, production was at the level of 15,000 per month. Thus, now Ukraine continues to burn existing warehouse stocks.
The publication states that during the year and a half of the war, the rate of artillery fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine almost did not decrease, despite the fact that Ukraine's own reserves were slowly but steadily reduced. Currently, Ukrainian forces usually release 2,000 to 3,000 artillery shells per day, a representative of the US Department of Defense told CNN.
According to the publication's interlocutors, the USA hoped that with the start of the counteroffensive, the Armed Forces would rely less on artillery and more on joint military maneuvers, which the USA had been training the Ukrainians for several months. But the total mining of the front-line zone by the Russians made a maneuverable war impossible, forcing the Ukrainians to continue to rely on artillery.
