After 30 years of atrophy, experts say, Europe’s shrunken military industry will struggle to provide the Ukrainians with a million artillery shells by March.
Now, at a critical moment in the war and with Ukraine running short of artillery shells to drive its counteroffensive, experts, weapons manufacturers and even some government officials are expressing growing doubts.
Last March, as Ukrainian soldiers were burning through thousands of artillery shells each day just to retain control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, the government in Kyiv sent a dire plea to its allies for more 155-millimeter ammunition, which is fired from the howitzers that are the backbone of Ukraine’s military.
Under the terms of the program, many of the remaining rounds must be bought from manufacturers based in the European Union and Norway, and purchased in joint procurement deals among those states in order to qualify for reimbursement.
Moreover, South Korea has prohibited its weapons from being sent to Ukraine, and Britain and the United States are trying to rebuild their own stockpiles as NATO urges its members to bolster depleted reserves as a safeguard.
It has landed several major ammunition contracts this year — including one worth nearly $1.4 billion to supply Germany’s military — and has produced tens of thousands of rounds that have been sent to Ukraine since the war began.
Kusti Salm, the highest-ranking career official at Estonia’s Defense Ministry, who helped conceive the plan that the European Union eventually adopted, said Europe could not depend on industry alone to make up the nearly 750,000-round shortfall that it faced.
The original article contains 1,401 words, the summary contains 237 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Now, at a critical moment in the war and with Ukraine running short of artillery shells to drive its counteroffensive, experts, weapons manufacturers and even some government officials are expressing growing doubts.
Last March, as Ukrainian soldiers were burning through thousands of artillery shells each day just to retain control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, the government in Kyiv sent a dire plea to its allies for more 155-millimeter ammunition, which is fired from the howitzers that are the backbone of Ukraine’s military.
Under the terms of the program, many of the remaining rounds must be bought from manufacturers based in the European Union and Norway, and purchased in joint procurement deals among those states in order to qualify for reimbursement.
Moreover, South Korea has prohibited its weapons from being sent to Ukraine, and Britain and the United States are trying to rebuild their own stockpiles as NATO urges its members to bolster depleted reserves as a safeguard.
It has landed several major ammunition contracts this year — including one worth nearly $1.4 billion to supply Germany’s military — and has produced tens of thousands of rounds that have been sent to Ukraine since the war began.
Kusti Salm, the highest-ranking career official at Estonia’s Defense Ministry, who helped conceive the plan that the European Union eventually adopted, said Europe could not depend on industry alone to make up the nearly 750,000-round shortfall that it faced.
The original article contains 1,401 words, the summary contains 237 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!