- The US is aiming to increase production of a key artillery shell used by Ukraine.
- The hope is to manufacture 90,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition by 2025.
- The US currently makes just over 14,000 rounds per month.
The United States is planning to dramatically ramp up production of a key artillery round that Ukraine has used to beat back Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Under the latest proposal, the US aims to within two years produce up to 90,000 rounds 155mm of ammunition every month, The Times reported, citing a US Army report.
That’s more than double the goal detailed just last month by Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who told reporters the goal was to manufacture “20,000 rounds a month” by this spring and 40,000 by 2025.
The increase comes after some US officials have expressed concern that US aid to Ukraine has depleted the country’s stockpile of the ammunition. Last summer, one defense official told The Wall Street Journal that the country’s supply of 155mm rounds was “uncomfortably low” and “not at the level we would like to go into combat.”
As of January 18, the US had already committed to providing Ukraine with at least 160 M777 Howitzers and just under 1.1 million of the 155mm artillery rounds they use. But it is burning through them fast.
Currently, the US produces just over 14,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition every month. As The Washington Post reported last month, Ukrainian forces have previously fired that many rounds in the span of 48 hours.
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