The production of 155 millimeter shells, which are much needed by Ukraine, will reach 90,000 per month, while until now the production rate was 14,400 per month. The need to supply shells to Ukraine’s armed forces prompted the Pentagon to triple production targets in September, then double them again in January
The Pentagon dramatically increases the production of its artillery shells by 500 percent in two years, to levels not seen since the Korean War (in the 1950s), and it needs to invest billions of dollars to overcome the shortage caused by the war in Ukraine, and to fill reserves for future wars.
The effort will include expanding factories and bringing in new manufacturers. It is part of the “most aggressive modernization effort in nearly 40 years” for the US defense industrial base, according to a US military report as reported by the New York Times.
The new investment in artillery production is partly a concession to reality: while the Pentagon has focused on fighting wars with a small number of more accurate guided weapons, Ukraine relies heavily on simple howitzers that fire unguided shells non-stop.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year, the U.S. military’s production of 14,400 non-laser-guided shells a month was enough for the U.S. military. But the need to supply shells to Ukraine’s armed forces prompted the Pentagon to triple production targets in September, then double them again in January, so that they would eventually be able to produce 90,000 or more shells a month.
Unplaced artillery shells have become the cornerstone of the 11-month war, with both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers firing thousands of shells at each other every day, along a front line more than 1,000 kilometers long. These weapons are likely responsible for the largest percentage of the war’s casualties, which US officials have estimated at over 100,000 per side.