The US Army said on Tuesday that it has given two businesses $522 million in orders to produce 155 mm artillery ammunition for Ukraine.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. and Global Military Products Inc. received the orders, which were formally decided on January 30, amid concerns that Ukraine was quickly emptying the stocks of artillery shells from the United States and other allies.
The Army stated in a statement that deliveries of the new ammunition are anticipated to start in March of this year.
The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative of the Pentagon is responsible for funding the contract.
Since the Russian invasion started almost a year ago, Ukraine and Russia have exchanged massive amounts of artillery shells.
A US official claimed in November that Russian forces were launching 20,000 artillery rounds daily.
Between 4,000 and 7,000 rounds were produced daily in Ukraine, beyond the capacity of allied Western producers to maintain up.
Since then, rates have significantly decreased as a result of both sides conserving ammo and the onset of winter.
“The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions, and depleting allied stockpiles,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.
“The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain,” he said.
