![]() ![]() There are also limits to how much the US or Europe can give without jeopardizing their own security (though exactly what those thresholds are is probably a subject of debate). For example, in the US, President Joe Biden uses something called “ drawdown authority,” which lets the US transfer weapons from the Pentagon’s own stocks in emergency situations. ![]() A lot of this stuff came out of arsenals in the US and Europe. So the West began donating more of its own stuff, gradually upgrading to more advanced weaponry as its confidence in Ukraine increased - howitzers to HIMARS, anti-tank weapons to main battle tanks. This made sense: the West wasn’t going to use it, and Ukraine’s military was already trained on and familiar with it.īut this equipment has since gotten used up and worn down, and it can’t be replaced or easily fixed. Governments found ammo and refurbished old systems that would work with Ukraine’s Soviet models. They gave Western equipment, too, but a lot of it was the military-assistance equivalent of cleaning out the basement. “And yet, somehow, they manage to fight.” The US and Europe don’t have unlimited stockpiles of artilleryĪt the start of the Ukraine war, the US and its allies, especially eastern European countries, donated lots of old Soviet-style weapons to Ukraine. “Nobody has as much as they want, whenever they want it,” said Eugene Gholz, associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, and former Pentagon adviser for manufacturing and industrial base policy. And even then, it’s unclear what amount of artillery will actually be enough for a war being fought around it, with an indefinite end. ![]() As experts said, there are obstacles to scaling up production - supply chains and labor, for example - and while a lot of these can be overcome, it’s at a cost. The hope among Western partners is that Ukraine will have enough firepower to execute its spring campaign, and potentially be in a strong enough position by fall and winter to buy Ukraine’s backers some time to scale up things like artillery production, as they’re starting to do, and deliver more supplies.īut it also raises new questions for the US and Europe, about how much more support they might need to deliver to Ukraine, and how much they are willing to invest to do it, potentially moving industry to a more explicitly wartime footing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said that Ukraine is ready for its long-anticipated counteroffensive. Supply interruptions could force Ukrainian troops to make trade-offs on the battlefield - holding or delaying fire, for example. Both Russia and Ukraine risk shortages, but Kyiv is wholly dependent on support from the West. Ukrainian officials have talked about it, and so have Western officials the so-called “artillery” or “ammunition” diet.Īrtillery isn’t the only weapon facing possible supply constraints as the Ukraine war stretches on, but the availability and continued access to shells is likely to be decisive in this war. There are reports that Ukraine has had to cut or limit the use of artillery because it has shortages of munitions. Stockpiles are being depleted, reaching a point where to give much more might mean compromising Western countries’ own military readiness. As the war in Ukraine goes on, and looks to go on much longer, the United States and Europe are facing more constraints in their ability to supply Ukraine. Ukraine was burning through about 6,000 to 7,000 artillery rounds per day, according to an estimate in March, adding up to much more than the US or Europe is currently producing in a given month. The two-foot-long shells are filled with explosives, so when they land, they explode, with a blast radius that kills. Think those 155 millimeter shells, which look like gigantic bullets. It also relies on the West for a steady stream of rounds: that is, the shells or munitions that launch from these artillery systems. Ukraine has relied on such systems, which the West has supplied. The howitzers and mortars or certain rocket systems. But the nature of these battles is unlikely to change, and that means Ukraine and Russia will need more and more munitions.Īrtillery is sometimes called the “king of battle.” These are the big guns that allow militaries to hit larger targets, frequently at long ranges. Both Russian and Ukrainian troops have fired a lot of it, and it has become a symbol of the brutal, attritional fight across the front lines. In Ukraine, artillery has become a defining feature of the war.
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