1). “Facing critical ammunition shortage, Ukrainian troops ration shells”, Apr. 8, 2023, Isabelle Khurshudyan and Kamila Hrabchuk, 1,628 words, The Washington Post.
2). “Ukraine's ammunition becomes defining issue in battle for Donbas; Analysis: as Soviet-era shells run low, Ukraine appeals for artillery that can use Nato shells, but deliveries are slow Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates”, June 27, 2022, Peter Beaumont, 507 words, The Guardian.
3). “Pentagon Will Increase Artillery Production Sixfold to Aid Ukraine”, Jan. 25, 2023, John Ismay & Eric Lipton, 1,638 words, The New York Times.
Introduction: There are two very different views of the U.S. / NATO Proxy War Against Russia, taking place in Ukraine. The Corporate Controlled Media, and its allies among the Alternative Media, present a triumphalist view. In that version of what has occurred in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is demonized while Volodymyr Zelenskyy is lionized as a Jeffersonian democrat and one would expect that he is scheduled to have his bust chiseled into the rocks at Mt. Rushmore; next to either George Washington on one end or Abraham Lincoln at the other. While wild claims of Russia being a fascist dictatorship are bandied about, actual and extremely well documented Fascist movements and leaders in Ukraine, going back to the 1920s are studiously ignored except on some independent websites, including this one. Stepan Bandera, the leading fascist in Ukraine before, during, and for awhile after WW 2, was elevated to national hero status by the 2014 Coup Regime. Major streets and town squares were renamed for Bandera by the Coup Regime’s legislators, while the speaking of Russian was outlawed. Yulia Timoshenko, (She was a Coup Regime political operative, and former Prime Minister of Ukraine who served 3 years in prison, from 2011 - 2014, for abuse of power infractions. She was only released from prison around the time of the 2014 EuroMaidan Coup in Kiev, and in another intercepted phone call she issued official threats against Russian-Speakers and Ethnic Russians living in Ukraine saying they should all be killed. The actual quotations include:
“ ‘One has to take up arms and go wipe out these damn 'katsaps' together with their leader,’ The word ‘katsap’ is a derogatory Ukrainian term for Russians. …. ‘I would have found a way to finish off these bastards,’ the 53-year-old leader of the 2004 pro-democracy Orange revolution was heard as saying.
“‘I am hoping that I will use all my connections and will get the whole world to rise up so that not even scorched earth would be left of Russia."
Discussing the fate of Ukraine's eight million ethnic Russians with Shufrych, Tymoshenko was also heard as saying that they should be "nuked".
I have posted numerous Youtube interviews and articles (along with Collectivist Action I might add) exposing the deep fascist roots of the Coup Government in Kiev. Also I have posted numerous Youtube interviews and articles that disagree with the Triumphalist Corporate Controlled Media position that the Russians are being defeated, desperately fighting with shovels and clubs, while the Ukrainians are always lavishly supplied, extra brave and winning every battle.
The first two items one published just two days ago: Item 1). “Facing critical ammunition shortage, Ukrainian troops ration shells”, and one published in late June of 2022, Item 2). “Ukraine's ammunition becomes defining issue in battle for Donbas; Analysis: ….” both note the problems that the Ukrainians (and to a lesser degree the Russians) have had in obtaining the artillery shells they actually use.
The article in Item 3)., “Pentagon Will Increase Artillery Production Sixfold to Aid Ukraine”, points out that:
“The Pentagon is racing to boost its production of artillery shells by 500 percent within two years, pushing conventional ammunition production to levels not seen since the Korean War as it invests billions of dollars to make up for shortfalls caused by the war in Ukraine and to build up stockpiles for future conflicts. …
“ .... the U.S. Army's production of 14,400 unguided shells a month had been sufficient for the American military's way of war. But the need to supply Kyiv's armed forces prompted Pentagon leaders to triple production goals in September, and then double them again in January so that they could eventually make 90,000 or more shells a month. ….
“By the end of World War II, the United States had about 85 ammunition plants, …. Today, the Pentagon relies on six government-owned, contractor-operated Army ammunition plants to do most of this work.
“The military's ammunition infrastructure 'is comprised of installations with an average age of more than 80 years,' and much of it still operates in ‘World War II-era buildings, and in some cases, with equipment from the same period,' ….
“The production of artillery ammunition in the United States is a complicated process that primarily takes place in four government-owned facilities run by private defense contractors.” These four factories are located in “ …. Pennsylvania run by General Dynamics …. BAE Systems …. in Tennessee …. a plant run by American Ordnance in rural Iowa, …. (and) by BAE in southwest Virginia. …. (in addition new contracts have been signed with) Ontario-based company IMT Defense …. (and) General Dynamics to build a new production line for 155-millimeter shells at a factory in Garland, Texas.”
The mighty Industrial plants of the WW 2 “Arsenal of Democracy” are merely photos on the pages of historical works and glimmers in the minds of elderly people. It will take the U.S. at least two years to ramp up production of artillery shells and longer for other weapons. Will the proxy war in Ukraine rage on that long?
1). “Facing critical ammunition shortage, Ukrainian troops ration shells”, Apr. 8, 2023, Isabelle Khurshudyan and Kamila Hrabchuk, 1,628 words, The Washington Post.
Byline: Isabelle Khurshudyan and Kamila Hrabchuk
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine - The artillery shells were stored in a shallow mud dugout, covered with a black plastic tarp to keep them safe. Just 14 rounds remained - evidence of a critical ammunition shortage that has the Ukrainians scrambling for ways to conserve supply until their Western allies can produce or procure more.
The artillery platoon, with the 59th Motorized Brigade in eastern Ukraine, used to fire more than 20 or 30 shells per day with their Soviet-era howitzer. Now, they typically shoot one or two, or none at all.
The ammunition that has pounded parts of Ukraine daily for more than a year has become a precious resource in the artillery war with Russia - and which side conserves shells and rearms faster could turn the tide on the battlefield.
In the dugout, a Ukrainian soldier reached for a round as his commander recited coordinates for their first shot of the day. "Fire," yelled the commander, whom The Post agreed to identify by his call sign, Spider, due to the security risks. After the blast, he waited, staring at his phone for another order. He didn't receive one, so he told his men to stand down, not knowing if the shell had hit its target or his commander just didn't want to spend another one.
Even amid a shortage, Ukraine is firing some 7,700 shells per day, or roughly one every six seconds, according to a Ukrainian military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly. Russia, which may also be running low, is firing more - by some estimates triple that amount.
To keep up with their adversary and still conserve ammunition, the Ukrainian military is now pickier in selecting targets, often prioritizing equipment over small groups of infantry. Precision is key because misses mean wasted shells. And in underground workshops across eastern Ukraine, soldiers are using 3D printers and recycling unexploded ordinances to create alternative munitions.
Artillery rounds for Ukraine's Soviet-era guns, which make up the majority of their arsenal, have long been in short supply. That has forced a reliance on the artillery provided by Kyiv's Western allies because they use 155mm caliber shells, which Ukraine has more of for now but for far fewer guns.
At the pace Ukraine is firing, those stocks could soon run out, too, as Western countries struggle to ramp up production. In February, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the "current rate of Ukraine's ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production."
Nearby Spider's artillery position, the thunder of a U.S.-provided M777 howitzer, with its 155mm shells, roared every few minutes while he and his men drank tea in a foxhole. "Sometimes we just sit here and listen to the M777 shooting and the Russian creatures shooting back. It's like a talk between them," Spider said.
"We don't have a lot of ammunition, so that's why we don't work a lot," he said.
The countries that still have stocks of Soviet-standard 152mm and 122mm rounds are largely former Soviet republics, many of which are hesitant to sell to Ukraine because of their ties with Russia. Some African and Middle Eastern countries, which have received weapons and ammunition from Russia over the years, also have stocks of those shells. A few former Warsaw Pact countries have the capacity to manufacture the shells but not at the scale and speed Ukraine needs on the battlefield.
Occasionally, a third country friendly to Ukraine will purchase the ammunition - sometimes through a broker - and then supply it to Ukraine in secret to avoid any political fallout for the seller. Often, the result is that one artillery piece on the battlefield may have shells produced in several countries, which soldiers say may not fire the same, affecting accuracy.
"The main issue of concern is sustainability," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. "Former Warsaw Pact countries, they dismantled their production lines of Soviet-caliber ammunition since they became members of NATO. Now, we badly need this Soviet-caliber ammunition, so the question is how to restore production lines."
Bulgaria has already agreed, as has Poland and Slovakia, according to Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Yuriy Sak. But it's unclear how long it will take for the needed shells to be produced and reach the battlefield.
In the meantime, the hunt for shells is occasionally perilous. In areas where Russian forces retreated, soldiers wade through mined fields and forest to look for abandoned ammunition. One such group, which was ferrying any shells to the 59th brigade, recently hit unexploded ordnance.
The 14 shells Spider's platoon has left came from Russian stocks seized in the Kherson region in November. Spider said he didn't know when he would get more.
The United States has searched worldwide to round up stockpiles of Soviet artillery rounds, but deliveries can take months. On Tuesday, as part of a larger security assistance package, the Pentagon said it would provide an unspecified number of artillery shells, including 122mm caliber rounds it does not produce itself. A workhorse Ukrainian artillery piece, the D-30, uses such rounds.
"We're incredibly transparent with the Ukrainians, so they have a really good understanding of what ammunition we are planning to provide, when we are planning to provide it," said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon. "So that enables them to be able to plan their operations and understand where they need to flow equipment."
The Ukrainians could be holding back some ammunition for a planned spring counteroffensive. Soldiers in the field said what they have now is just enough to repel daily assaults but not to counterattack.
Rob Lee, a military analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that he suspects the United States and other Western backers have increased ammunition deliveries ahead of the spring offensive, but shipments could slow in fall and winter.
That raises the stakes for Ukraine to retake a lot of territory soon because a long war would probably favor Russia. U.S. officials have said that China is considering sending Russia 122mm and 152mm shells. Lee said that if that did happen, it "could significantly change the course of the war."
"This is ultimately an artillery war, so whichever side has more artillery rounds or can produce it more and sustain that long term is going to have a significant advantage," Lee said. "Artillery ammunition availability is one of the most single important factors in this war."
Russia is still firing more than Ukraine every day, but Ukrainian officials said they have noticed their enemy become increasingly conservative, a sign they may also be facing a shortage. In social media posts, Russian military bloggers and soldiers have complained about a lack of ammunition.
Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine's ground forces commander, said that Russian forces continue to fire heavily at priority locations on the front, but "where they are not attacking, they have restrictions on the use of artillery."
"Due to this, they use tank fire from closed positions," Syrsky said in February. "Tanks are actually used as substitutes for artillery systems."
The Ukrainians have also explored creative conservation tactics. In some cases, crews bring unexploded ordinances originally fired by the Russians to secret labs in eastern Ukraine, and the elements are carefully stripped away to create a new munition.
Volunteers and soldiers work with 3D printers to fashion small, relatively inexpensive munitions that can be dropped from drones. Bullets are deconstructed. The ball bearings from a Claymore mine are removed and then used in a different anti-personnel or antitank mine. At one of these sites, there are shrapnel holes in the ceiling - the result of an explosion that occurred during the refashioning process. Two people died.
But while the homemade munitions can replace artillery to bomb an immobile tank, they're not a substitute for pinning down forces during an offensive - or repelling an assault.
In an underground operations center for the 59th brigade in the Donetsk region, drone footage from 30 miles away played on four mounted monitors. It was a sky-high view of the town of Pervomaiske as it was under attack by Russian forces.
"Where infantry can work without artillery, only infantry works," said an artillery chief in the room, whose call sign is Shaman. "If there is a small group of the enemy, it all depends on how small it is. If there are two or three people, we don't fire on them, but if there are 10 or 15, we work. If they move to our positions, it will be an assault action. So then we also have to work - like now, for example."
The live stream showed a village in ruins with homes reduced to rubble and the ground covered in dark craters - scars of a war that has used an astonishing amount of artillery. A plume of smoke rose over the landscape where another shell had just crashed.
Shaman passed another set of coordinates down to the soldiers operating the howitzers on the ground for the next wave of fire. The Ukrainians that day could use their 155mm rounds while saving their Soviet calibers. But how long would that last?
"At the beginning of the war, we were working to contain the enemy," Shaman said. "Those were the toughest months, we were stopping them and our Soviet cannons wouldn't shut up. We exhausted everything we had, but we stopped the enemy. Now, to go on the offensive, contain the enemy . . . we need more ammunition."
- - -
The Washington Post's Alex Horton in Washington and David L. Stern in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
2). “Ukraine's ammunition becomes defining issue in battle for Donbas; Analysis: as Soviet-era shells run low, Ukraine appeals for artillery that can use Nato shells, but deliveries are slow Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates”, June 27, 2022, Peter Beaumont, 507 words, The Guardian.
Byline: Peter Beaumont
For Ukraine's military the question of ammunition for its artillery has been something of a catch-22.
In the battle for Donbas in the east -- which has become largely an artillery duel between Russian and Ukrainian forces -- Kyiv has been heavily reliant until recently on Soviet-era ammunition for the artillery that makes up a large part of its arsenal.
Now that ammunition is running desperately short, Ukraine is appealing to its allies to replace its artillery with systems that use Nato ammunition, weapons that are arriving slowly in comparison with Ukraine's needs.
"This is an artillery war now," Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence, said earlier this month.
"We are losing in terms of artillery. Everything now depends on what [the west] gives us," he added. "Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our western partners have given us about 10% of what they have."
At the centre of the issue is the fact that US and Nato and Soviet-era artillery use different calibres of shell that are not interchangeable.
Nato's standard shells are 105mm and 155mm. Ukraine's guns, that date back to the time of the cold war, fire 122-152mm shells.
Stocks of 152mm shells tend to be held by former Soviet republics, whose ability to sell to Kyiv is complicated by continuing relationships with Moscow, while a number of African and Middle Eastern countries also hold stocks. Moscow has been running a clandestine campaign to prevent former Warsaw Pact and other countries that do have the ammunition from supplying it to Ukraine.
Despite intense efforts by the Pentagon -- and by private arms dealers -- to find additional 152mm shells, it appears that there are now few to be had.
The issue has been a defining one in Donbas in recent weeks, where it has been estimated that Russian forces are firing up to 60,000 shells a day in comparison with Ukraine's 5-6,000. Kyiv's troops have increasingly been forced to conserve ammunition.
According to some analysts, Russia itself is facing problems with the supply of ammunition, although it has a much larger stock than Ukraine.
And while Ukraine's allies in the west have been working to supply systems compatible with Nato shells, the wholesale transformation of Ukraine's military in the midst of a conflict is lagging behind Kyiv's battlefield requirements.
Another issue in transitioning to Nato systems is training. While Ukraine is receiving systems such as the M777 155mm howitzer and longer-range multiple-launch rocket systems such as the US-supplied Himars, Ukrainian troops need to be trained to use them.
"We have munitions of the new type, but we still lack guns [to fire them]," Mariana Bezugla, deputy head of the national security, defence and intelligence committee in the Ukrainian parliament recently told the Washington Post, adding that Ukraine used more of the Soviet-era shells than were produced globally in one day.
CAPTION(S): Credit: Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian servicemen run for cover during an artillery duel between Ukrainian and Russian troops in Lysychansk, Donbas.
3). “Pentagon Will Increase Artillery Production Sixfold to Aid Ukraine”, Jan. 25, 2023, John Ismay & Eric Lipton, 1,638 words, The New York Times.
The Army's top acquisition official says production of the 155-millimeter shells badly needed by Kyiv will rise to 90,000 a month in two years.
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is racing to boost its production of artillery shells by 500 percent within two years, pushing conventional ammunition production to levels not seen since the Korean War as it invests billions of dollars to make up for shortfalls caused by the war in Ukraine and to build up stockpiles for future conflicts.
The effort, which will involve expanding factories and bringing in new producers, is part of ''the most aggressive modernization effort in nearly 40 years'' for the U.S. defense industrial base, according to an Army report.
The new investment in artillery production is in part a concession to reality: While the Pentagon has focused on fighting wars with small numbers of more expensive precision-guided weapons, Ukraine is largely relying on howitzers firing unguided shells.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the U.S. Army's production of 14,400 unguided shells a month had been sufficient for the American military's way of war. But the need to supply Kyiv's armed forces prompted Pentagon leaders to triple production goals in September, and then double them again in January so that they could eventually make 90,000 or more shells a month.
Unguided artillery shells have become the cornerstone of the 11-month-old conflict, with both Ukrainian and Russian troops firing thousands of howitzer rounds at each other every day, along a front line more than 600 miles long. These weapons are most likely responsible for the greatest percentage of war casualties, which U.S. officials have estimated at more than 100,000 on each side.
The Army's decision to expand its artillery production is the clearest sign yet that the United States plans to back Ukraine no matter how long the war continues.
The ammunition the United States has sent to Ukraine includes not just the 155-millimeter shells for howitzers, but also guided rockets for HIMARS launchers, thousands of antiaircraft and anti-tank missiles and more than 100 million rounds for small arms.
The howitzer shells currently in production -- essentially large steel bullets filled with explosives -- cannot be made as quickly as many consumer goods. Although the way they are built is slowly changing with increasing automation and newer technologies, the heart of the process -- cutting, heating, forging and bending steel into shape -- remains largely unchanged.
The Defense Department will fund new facilities to make artillery ammunition and is spending roughly $1 billion a year over the next 15 years to modernize government-owned ordnance production facilities in an effort to increase automation, improve worker safety and ultimately make munitions more quickly. Just since August, Congress has allocated $1.9 billion to the Army for the effort.
''We are really working closely with industry to both increase their capacity and also the speed at which they're able to produce,'' Christine Wormuth, the secretary of the Army, said last month, adding that this includes identifying ''particular components that are sort of choke points'' and ''sourcing those to try to be able to move things more quickly.''
Douglas R. Bush, an assistant secretary of the Army who is the service's top acquisition official, said the United States is one of just a handful of countries that maintains significant reserves of such weapons in times of war and peace alike.
''In previous conflicts, we had stockpiles that were sufficient for the conflict,'' Mr. Bush said in an interview. ''In this case, we're seeking to increase production to both maintain our stockpile for some other contingency but also supply an ally.''
''So it's a bit of a new situation,'' he added.
The unguided shells currently in production are just under three feet long, weigh roughly 100 pounds and are filled with 24 pounds of explosives -- enough to kill people within 150 feet of impact and injure exposed soldiers more than 400 feet away.
So far the United States has sent more than one million of the explosive projectiles to Ukraine, while other NATO countries and major non-NATO allies of the United States have also contributed shells, largely without disclosing how many.
The Pentagon has declined to comment on the size of its reserves of 155-millimeter shells, but Mr. Bush said the planned increases in production would support Ukraine's needs in real time and replenish the amount drawn down from existing stocks.
''We're going to start seeing this summer our first significant step up in terms of rounds per month,'' he said of the shell production goals. ''The ramp really hits its stride in fiscal year 2024.''
While the new investment in the nation's ammunition plants will offer a significant boost in production, it is still just a fraction of the manufacturing capacity that the military mustered in the 1940s.
By the end of World War II, the United States had about 85 ammunition plants, according to a congressional report from late last year. Today, the Pentagon relies on six government-owned, contractor-operated Army ammunition plants to do most of this work.
The military's ammunition infrastructure ''is comprised of installations with an average age of more than 80 years,'' and much of it still operates in ''World War II-era buildings, and in some cases, with equipment from the same period,'' according to the Army's report on modernizing those facilities, which was 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 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite into space -- that made clear the need for this rapid expansion in ammunition manufacturing capacity in the United States.
''The Russian invasion of Ukraine has really exposed how brittle and fragile our supply chain is, particularly as it relates to munitions, which is now clearly kind of an emergency in terms of trying to replenish,'' Mr. Wittman said this month, during remarks before a group of top Pentagon officials.
The production of artillery ammunition in the United States is a complicated process that primarily takes place in four government-owned facilities run by private defense contractors. The empty steel bodies are forged in factories in Pennsylvania run by General Dynamics, the explosives for those shells are mixed together by BAE Systems workers in Tennessee and then poured into the shells at a plant run by American Ordnance in rural Iowa, while the propellant charges to shoot them out of howitzer barrels are made by BAE in southwest Virginia.
The fuzes screwed into the nose of these shells, which are required to make the projectiles explode, are produced by contractors in other locations.
In November, the Army announced a $391 million contract with the Ontario-based company IMT Defense to make shell bodies and issued an order to General Dynamics to build a new production line for 155-millimeter shells at a factory in Garland, Texas.
A fourth domestic producer of 155-millimeter shell bodies will probably be announced soon, Mr. Bush said.
All of this increased production is likely to be used as quickly as it can be shipped to Ukraine's border by U.S. Transportation Command.
The Ukrainians have been firing so many artillery barrages that about a third of the 155-millimeter howitzers provided by the United States and other Western nations are out of commission for repairs.
The Pentagon has also bought ammunition for the Soviet-era weapons that Ukraine had before the invasion and that still make up a large part of its arsenal: 100,000 rounds of ammunition for Russian-made tanks, 65,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and 50,000 Grad artillery rockets.
Those munitions are still being produced in limited numbers in some of the former satellite nations of the Soviet Union in Central and Eastern Europe.
''We're not talking numbers that would dramatically move the dial,'' Mr. Bush said. ''Those kinds of options have been and are being evaluated.''
''The priority has been on providing NATO's standard ammunition,'' he said. ''A lot of it, though, depends on what Ukraine wants.''
As the war dragged on, Russian forces found that they could not sustain the high levels of artillery fire they used to overmatch Ukrainian gun crews over the summer. By September, according to U.S. intelligence services, Russia was seeking to purchase artillery shells from North Korea, which still uses Soviet-caliber weapons. The next month, Ukrainian troops near the city of Kherson said Russia's rate of fire had fallen to roughly the same as theirs.
In December, a U.S. defense intelligence analyst who was not authorized to speak publicly said reports from Russia indicated that the government in Moscow had ordered employees at munition plants to work additional hours in an effort to produce more ordnance for Russian forces to use in Ukraine, including artillery ammunition.
The experience in Ukraine has broadly 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.
Most militaries are focused on buying just enough weapons for short-term conflicts, Gregory Hayes, the chief executive of Raytheon Technologies, said last month at a conference in California with Pentagon leaders, referring to the stealthy F-35 fighters that his company helps build and that have been sold to the United States and many of its allies. ''I think, if anything, what the Ukraine situation has taught us is that we need depth in our supply chain, depth in our war reserves, much more than we had ever expected.''
CAPTION(S):
PHOTOS: Above, Ukrainian soldiers firing a 155-millimeter howitzer at Russian positions in December. Left, howitzer shells in the Donetsk region. Both sides fire thousands of rounds each day. (PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID GUTTENFELDER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES) This article appeared in print on page A10.
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