The Department of Defense is planning to boost production of artillery ammunition by 500 percent over the next two years – not for the nation’s benefit, but for Ukraine.
Such a move would push conventional ammunition production to levels not seen since the Korean War, as the Pentagon hopes to invest billions of dollars more to make up for supply shortfalls caused by America’s massive military aid shipments to Kyiv.
Under the Defense Department’s proposal, the United States would raise production levels for 155mm artillery shells to 90,000 rounds every month.
This is a massive departure from last month’s announcement by Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, who said that the goal was to manufacture “20,000 rounds a month” by the end of spring of 2023 and 40,000 rounds a month by 2025.
The Defense Department will spend roughly $1 billion a year over the next 15 years to fund new facilities to make artillery ammunition and to modernize current government-owned ordnance production facilities to increase automation, improve worker safety and make munitions much quicker. This is on top of the $1.9 billion Congress allocated to the Army for its current defense production efforts.
“We are really working closely with industry to both increase their capacity and also the speed at which they’re able to produce,” said Wormuth. She added that this effort includes identifying “particular components that are sort of choke points” and “sourcing those to try to be able to move things more quickly.”
US arms commitments to Ukraine to continue despite supply shortfalls
Before the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the Army was producing 14,400 unguided artillery shells a month. This amount was regarded as sufficient for the military’s way of war, which has for the past few decades been focused almost exclusively on dealing with low-tech enemy combatants in militias or insurgencies.
The desire to massively increase artillery ammunition production comes after U.S. officials expressed concerns regarding how America’s military aid shipments to Ukraine may have depleted the country’s stockpile of artillery ammunition. Some defense officials pointed out how the country’s supply of 155-millimeter rounds was “uncomfortably low” and “not at the level we would like to go into combat.”
Despite the massive shortfalls in crucial military stockpiles, the U.S. is still committing more and more resources to Ukraine. As of Jan. 18, America had already sent or committed at least 160 M777 Howitzer artillery pieces and just under 1.1 million 155mm artillery rounds. Despite this already massive deployment, it still may not be enough – and Kyiv is burning through the 155mm rounds fast.
The 155mm unguided artillery shells for howitzers have become the cornerstone of the nearly year-long conflict, with both Ukrainian and Russian troops firing thousands of rounds at each other every day along a front that stretches over 700 miles long. U.S. officials estimate that these weapons are likely responsible for the greatest percentage of war casualties, which are now thought to be more than 200,000 total.
Last month, Ukraine used 14,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition every 48 hours on average – roughly the same number produced by the U.S. per month before the conflict.
The Army’s recent decision to expand its artillery ammunition product is, according to New York Times writers John Ismay and Eric Lipton, “the clearest sign yet that the United States plans to back Ukraine no matter how long the war continues.”
Learn more about other threats to America’s national security at NationalSecurity.news.
Watch this episode of “The New Atlas” as host Brian Berletic discusses how the U.S. has pledged to send over M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, further depleting American military stockpiles.
This video is from the channel The Prisoner on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
- Think tank: America’s defense industry is not prepared for a war with China over Taiwan.
- Former top adviser to Ukrainian president says country will lose its war against Russia.
- German intelligence agency: Ukraine losing HUNDREDS of soldiers daily… the situation is not sustainable.
- NATO members are running out of weapons that they can send to Ukraine.
- Biden regime now tapping secret ammo supply depot in Israel to continue supplying Ukraine.
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Why One Survival Food Company Shines Above the Rest
Let’s be real. “Prepper Food” or “Survival Food” is generally awful. The vast majority of companies that push their cans, bags, or buckets desperately hope that their customers never try them and stick them in the closet or pantry instead. Why? Because if the first time they try them is after the crap hits the fan, they’ll be too shaken to call and complain about the quality.
It’s true. Most long-term storage food is made with the cheapest possible ingredients with limited taste and even less nutritional value. This is why they tout calories so much. Sure, they provide calories but does anyone really want to go into the apocalypse with food their family can’t stand?
This is what prompted the Llewellyns to launch Heaven’s Harvest. They bought survival food from multiple companies and determined they couldn’t imagine being stuck in an extended emergency with such low-quality food. They quickly discovered that freeze drying food for long-term storage doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor, consistency, or nutrition.
Their ingredients are all-American. In fact, they’re locally sourced and all-natural! This allows their products to be the highest quality on the market, so good that their customers often break open a bag in a pinch to eat because they want to, not just because they have to due to an emergency.
At Heaven’s Harvest, their only focus is amazing food. They don’t sell bugout bags, solar chargers, or multitools. They have one mission – feeding Americans in times of crisis.
What they DO offer is the ability for people to thrive in times of greatest need. On top of long-term storage food, they offer seeds to help Americans for the truly long-term. They want them to grow their own food if possible which is why they offer only Heirloom, Non-GMO, Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated seeds so their customers can build permanent food security on their own property.
I am sure there are enough abandoned auto and steel mill factories through out the Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and so that you would be able to set up shop in no time what so ever.
No offense but what’s wrong with the OLD factories?
Proves my theory of the proxy war & military industrial complex. Politicians & industrialist making bank.
MTG is going to make a lot of money on her investments.
Well if you don’t want MTG to make a lot of money, then convince your addled brain President to stop sending military supplies to Ukraine. Easy peasy.
The last wars we have fought were against ignorant peasants who had no aircraft, no submarines, no carriers, no tanks, just small arms and a dedication to the causes they were willing to die for. Our next war will likely be against China who has a bigger industrial machine with lower costs than we do, who has more ships in their navy than we do, who has 5X the number of cyber warriors than we have and the ruthlessness to use them, who as a population 5X our size and a massive totalitarian government that controls their press and will impose no limits on what they do.
The fact that we have not upgraded our ability to have ammunition for our troops, the fact that we have depleted our energy reserves and shut down domestic production for truly stupid political reasons, the fact that our military leadership is more focused on making the officer corps WOKE and exiting actual war-fighting patriots, the fact that we drove the Saudis and the Russians into the arms of the Russians, the fact that we are led by a clown car of idiots in the Depts of Defense, Homeland Security, and State among others and a President who is bought and paid for by the Chinese does not augur well for the future of America. Very dark times. Like the idiot, defeatist, divisive French government in the 1930s who argued over Marxist trivia while Germany armed for war. Very very dark times.
Glas they are updating the factories but a lot more needs to be done to put our economy back on a growth track (like Trumps 3.5%/y not Bidens <1%/y), rein in the bureaucracy, fix our intelligence apparatus, FBI and DOJ that seems more focused on fighting Trump than saving America, controlling our border and focusing our schools on teaching useful things like math, science, computers, reading, writing, and thinking rather than indoctrinating them into absurd trans fantasies.