This would make Rheinmetall the biggest producer for this ammunition, CEO Armin Papperger said. Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE), probably best known for manufacturing the 120mm gun of the Leopard 2 tank, said it was ready to boost production of 155mm artillery shells to 450,000 to 500,000 per year from 60,000 to 70,000 in 2022. However, some German arms makers are preparing. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the head of the German parliament's defence committee and ally of Scholz' ruling coalition, called it a "lost year" and bemoaned a lack of foresight in re-ordering equipment. There was not enough money for the procurement of munitions, neither in the special fund nor in the defence budget," he added. "In spite of the 100 billion euro special fund, we saw a defence ministry that administered shortages all through 2022. "Until the end of last year, we did not receive any significant orders," said the head of the Association of the German Security and Defence Industry, Hans Christoph Atzpodien. Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a 100 billion euro special fund days after the invasion to modernise the military, has made little progress in backfilling arms and munitions rushed to Kyiv. However, other countries are lagging behind. "We are looking with other countries to see how we can replicate this sort of model," said a French official. The first several thousand will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of March. An agreement between France and Australia will see Canberra provide gunpowder, which is not produced in France, to enable Nexter to manufacture 155mm shells. The Caesar howitzer, which used to take two years to build, is now manufactured in 18 months.Ĭooperation between allies is key. Production time for munitions has started to fall from nine to three months, according to military officials. The war economy is starting to bear fruit. Now they have woken up," said a French military official. That includes 10,000 155mm shells from Nexter Systems, France's only contractor for large calibre munitions. In France, President Emmanuel Macron ordered the country's military contractors last July to come up with a "war economy" strategy to speed up production of everything from munitions to howitzers.įrench officials declined to give a specific figure for munitions production, but for 2023 Paris has ordered about 2 billion euros worth of munitions, of which about 1.1 billion euros worth will be delivered this year. 24.Īs Ukraine's biggest military donor, the United States has provided some $30 billion worth of arms to Kyiv since the war started, including more than one million 155mm rounds, according to the State Department and the Pentagon. Washington aims to raise its monthly production goal for artillery rounds to 90,000 from 14,400 before the war, the New York Times reported on Jan. The United States and France have both started to pressure defence companies to boost production. NATO defence ministers will discuss the issue in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday before dozens of Western leaders gather for the Munich Security Conference, ahead of the first anniversary of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. The war also cast a spotlight on the lack of industrial capacity necessary to ramp up production quickly, after decades of dwindling government orders saw many production lines vanish. The NATO official said the biggest shortfall are battle-decisive munitions ranging from 155 mm shells used in howitzers, to HIMARS missiles, and ammunition for air defence systems like IRIS-T, Patriot and Gepard, all in heavy use by Ukrainian troops.ĭecisions on stockpiling goals are expected when NATO leaders meet for a summit in Lithuania in mid-July. The German defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation. Germany alone was 20 billion euros ($21 billion) short of reaching the NATO target before the invasion, according to a defence source. Factoring all these conditions in, the country will have to provide a certain amount of ammunition, tanks, howitzers and what else may be needed to fulfil NATO's requirements.
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