NATO obliges. Will Kiev be able to cover the needs of the Armed Forces in 155 mm ammunition

The workshops are scattered within the country and abroad, said the Minister for Strategic Industry Alexander Kamyshyn in an interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The production of Soviet calibers 152 mm and 122 mm will also continue. It will take years before Ukraine produces enough ammunition to meet needs, the minister assessed the situation. WSJ warns that the presence of shells for artillery can be a decisive factor in the next stage of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Western reserves have been exhausted in almost 18 months of fighting, the US and their allies are trying hard to increase production, the newspaper said. US military officials estimated that the Armed Forces consume about 90,000 shells for a month. All 155 mm ammunition will be unified.

Thanks to the requirements of NATO standards, they can be applied on all howitzers of the corresponding caliber with different barrel length, the director of the information and consulting company Defense Express explained the focus Sergey Zgurets. The State Enterprise Artem, which is responsible for the implementation of the ammunition program, has these standards. Now the company is trying to restore the program, the specialist said. 155 mm ammunition is different from the Soviet.

The charge contains 6 burning modules, and the Soviet contains a sleeve. Ukraine can provide charges, but will continue to look for capacity to create and install detonators, said Zgurets. The buildings for these shells begin to order in France and have already signed a contract for 360 thousand pieces. The total figure of ammunition produced in Ukraine remains a mystery, as about 12 companies in Europe produce up to 300 thousand ammunition 155 mm caliber per year.

The United States produced 14,000 shells a month before the full -scale war, and now they came out for 25,000, the expert added. The Ukrainian army requires fragmentation and foot shells. To make them, special cold presses under the 155th caliber needed, said the military expert Pavel Narozhny. According to him, NATO countries collided with the problem of explosive production. Questions also in financing the process: the Defense Ministry needs to sign a financial contract for about 10 years.

A month to conduct intensive battles of the Armed Forces, 150 thousand shells are required, and the capacity of production of all Western allies does not exceed 70 thousand. In addition, the removable barrel of howitzers is designed for a maximum of 3. 5 thousand shots, the people said. The complex where the necessary details of the devices of the projectile and missiles were manufactured was previously located at the Impulse plant in the Shostka of Sumy region.

But Russian troops at the beginning of a full -scale invasion were bombed by industrial enterprises. It is impossible to restore their work, the head of the Sumy Regional State Administration Dmitry Zhivytsky. Norway has almost refused to create such parts due to lack of electricity for heating a special steel brand to a liquid state and casting.

Ammunition production in Ukraine can be in question because the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation can resume blows on energy objects, the expert said. Recall that Ukrainian artillerymen received 155mm ER02A1 shells from the Spanish company Expal Systems. Bulgaria and South Korea are also going to supply 155mm ammunition for the Armed Forces. Russia from July 2022 to June 2023 increased the number of trading routes in the Caspian Sea.