Before the start of the SMO, the US industry was producing 14,000 155mm artillery shells per month. At the same time, according to The Associated Press, the US military uses 6,000-8,000 shells a day which means that in two days it used to fire what the US military industry used to produce in a month.
Source: AP NEWS
The Russian Armed Forces, on the other hand, according to Ukrainian sources, fire 40,000 rounds a day.
So far, Washington has already supplied Kiev with 1.5 million 155-mm artillery shells. The Pentagon now has contracts with two General Dynamics plants located in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, for the production of 28,000 metal shell casings per month.
In addition, the US Army has signed new contracts with facilities in Texas and Canada to produce 155mm shells, and is seeking allies overseas to expand production.
In March, US Undersecretary of Defense Gabe Camarillo declared that the US will spend $1.5 billion to increase the production of 155-mm shells – up to more than 85,000 shells a month by 2028.
It should be noted that Washington pins certain hopes on the defense industrial potential of South Korea. Seoul has not yet dared to sell artillery shells directly to Kiev. But an agreement was reached in early April to provide the U.S. “on a temporary basis” with 500,000 155mm shells. Apparently, this ammunition will be sent to Ukraine.
The critical importance of having the shells is that 80-90% of Ukraine’s and Russia’s losses in the conflict are from artillery fire.
Returning to the issue of military build-up in the US and the entire collective West, we emphasise that it is not to Russia’s advantage to prolong the conflict in Ukraine too much.
We presumably have only a couple of years to break the back of the Nazi regime in Kiev and take control of all of Ukraine. It will be more difficult to do so from here on.
Elena Panina
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