WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is racing to increase artillery production by 500% within two years, pushing conventional munitions output to levels not seen since the Korean War as it invests billions of dollars to compensate. to make up for the shortfall caused by the war in Ukraine and to build stockpiles for future conflicts.
The effort, which includes the expansion of factories and the introduction of new manufacturers, is part of “the most aggressive modernization effort in nearly 40 years” for the facility, according to an Army report. US defense industry.
The new investment in artillery production is partly a concession to reality: While the Pentagon focuses on war with small numbers of more expensive precision-guided weapons, Ukraine relies heavily on self-propelled artillery. unguided artillery firing.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February, the US Army produced 14,400 unguided artillery shells per month which was enough for the US military way of war. But the need to supply Kyiv’s armed forces led Pentagon leaders to triple their production targets in September, then double them in January so they could eventually produce 90,000. bullets or more per month.
Unguided artillery has become the cornerstone of the 11-month conflict, with both Ukrainian and Russian militaries firing thousands of grenades at each other every day, along a more than 600-mile front line. These weapons were most likely responsible for the largest casualty rates of the war, which U.S. officials estimate at more than 100,000 men for each side.
The Army’s decision to expand artillery production is the clearest sign yet that the United States plans to support Ukraine no matter how long the war continues.
Ammunition that the United States sent to Ukraine included not only 155 mm shells for howitzers, but also guided missile Because HIMARS . launcherThousands anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles and more than 100 million rounds for small arms.
The grenades currently in production – essentially large steel ammunition filled with explosives – cannot be produced as quickly as many consumables. Although the way they are made is slowly changing with increasing automation and newer technologies, the core of the process – cutting, heating, forging and bending the steel into shape – has remained largely unchanged.
The Department of Defense will fund new facilities for munitions production and is spending approximately $1 billion annually over the next 15 years to modernize government-owned weapons production facilities in an effort to forces increase automation, improve worker safety, and ultimately make ammunition faster. Since August alone, Congress has allocated $1.9 billion to the Army for the effort.
“We are really working closely with industry to increase the capacity and the speed at which they can produce,” Christine Wormuth, Secretary of the Army, said last month, adding that this includes identifying “specific components that are arranging choke points” and “sourcing those points to try to move things faster.”
Douglas R. BushAn assistant secretary of the Army, who is also the army’s top procurement official, said the United States was one of the few countries that maintained significant stockpiles of such weapons during wartime. and peace.
“In previous conflicts, we had enough stockpiles for the conflict,” Bush said in an interview. “In this case, we are looking to increase production to both maintain a stockpile for some other backup and supply an ally.”
“So it’s a bit of a new situation,” he added.
The unguided shells currently in production are just under 3 feet long, weigh about 100 pounds, and are filled with 24 pounds of explosives — enough to kill people within 150 feet of impact and injure soldiers. exposed more than 400 feet away.
To date, the United States has sent more than a million explosive munitions to Ukraine, while other NATO nations and major non-NATO allies of the United States have also contributed ammunition, largely undisclosed in numbers.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the size of the stockpile of 155 mm artillery shells, but Bush said the plan to increase production would support Ukraine’s needs in real time and replenish the amount withdrawn from stockpiles. existing storage.
He said of the seashell production goals: “We will start to see our first significant step forward this summer in rounds per month. “The stretch really makes headway in fiscal year 2024.”
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Although the new investment in the nation’s munitions factories would bring a significant increase in production, it would still be only a fraction of the production capacity the military mustered in the 1940s. .
At the end of World War II, the United States had about 85 munitions factories, according to one report. congressional report from the end of last year. Today, the Pentagon relies on six government-owned, contractor-operated ammunition factories to do most of this work.
The military’s munitions infrastructure “includes facilities with an average age of more than 80 years” and much of it still operates in “World War II buildings, and in some cases, with contemporaries,” according to the report. Army report on modernization of those facilities, drafted in 2021.
Representative Rob Wittman, Republican of Virginia and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the invasion of Ukraine was a “Sputnik” moment – referring to the Soviet launch of the first satellite into space. 1957 – that clearly shows the need for this fast. expanded ammunition production capacity in the United States.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has really shown how fragile and fragile our supply chains are, especially when it comes to ammunition, which is now clearly an emergency,” Mr. Wittman said. level in terms of additional efforts,” Mr. Wittman said this month. before a group of top Pentagon officials.
The production of artillery shells in the United States is a complex process, mainly taking place at four government-owned facilities operated by private defense contractors. Hollow steel body forged in factory in Pennsylvania operated by General Dynamics, the explosives for those shells were mixed together by the workers of BAE Systems in Tennessee and then poured into pods at a factory run by American Ordnance in rural Iowawhile the propellant to shoot them out of the barrel of howitzers made by BAE in southwestern Virginia.
The fuses that screw into the noses of these shells, which are needed to make the shells explode, are manufactured by contractors at other locations.
In November, the Army announced a Contract worth 391 million USD with Ontario-based IMT Defense to build cartridges and ordered General Dynamics to build a new 155 mm shell production line at a plant in Garland, Texas.
Bush said the fourth domestic manufacturer of the 155 mm shell could be announced soon.
All of this increased output is likely to be used up as quickly as possible. shipping to Ukraine border by US Transportation Command.
The Ukrainians fired so many artillery positions that about a third of the 155 mm howitzers were supplied by the United States and other Western nations. out of commission for repair.
The Pentagon also purchased ammunition for Soviet-era weapons that Ukraine had before the invasion and still make up a large part of their arsenal: 100,000 rounds for Russian-made tanks, 65,000 rounds for cannons and 50,000 Grad pellets. artillery rockets.
Those munitions are still being produced in limited quantities in several former Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe.
“We’re not talking about numbers that can dramatically alter the dial,” Mr. Bush said. “Those types of options have been and are being evaluated.”
“The first priority is to provide standard NATO munitions,” he said. “However, much depends on what Ukraine wants.”
As the war dragged on, Russian forces found that they could not maintain the high artillery fire they had used to confront Ukrainian gun squads over the summer. By September, according to US intelligence agencies, Russia is looking to buy artillery shells from North Korea, still using weapons of Soviet caliber. The following month, Ukrainian troops near the city of Kherson reported that the Russian fire rate had been reduced to almost like theirs.
In December, a US defense intelligence analyst not authorized to speak publicly said reports from Russia indicated that the government in Moscow ordered employees at arms factories to work overtime in an effort to produce more weapons for use by Russian forces in Ukraine, including artillery shells.
The experience in Ukraine has reminded the Pentagon and military contractors that the United States needs to focus more on both basic artillery and missiles — not just the expensive equipment needed to fire these weapons.
Gregory Hayes, chief executive officer of Raytheon Technologies, said last month at a conference in California with Pentagon leaders, most of the military was focused on buying enough weapons for conflicts. short, referring to the F-35 stealth fighter his company helps build. and was sold to the United States and many of its allies. “I think, if so, what the Ukraine situation has taught us is that we need more depth in our supply chain, more depth in our war stockpile than we ever expected. “
