by Chris Black
In Europe, almost a third of the production of 155mm artillery ammunition is covered by the Czech company CSG.
Its current production capacity is from 80,000 to 100,000 shells per year.
Meanwhile Russia fires 60,000 artillery rounds per DAY.
It will take 10-15 years to refill Western stocks of artillery ammunition depleted to support Ukraine’s army as it battles Russia’s invasion, according to the owner of major arms manufacturer Czechoslovak Group.
Despite the flow of ammo to Ukraine, CSG owner Michal Strnad said Ukrainian forces were experiencing shortfalls as Western governments were running down their arsenals amid limits on production capacity.
Strnad told Reuters his firm was now responsible for about 25-30% of European output of NATO-standard 155mm artillery.
Strnad said CSG now had capacity of 80,000-100,000 of artillery shells per year, a significant chunk of the annual capacity in Europe which he put at 270,000-300,000.
>The firm is hiring 250-300 more people to expand production, he said, aiming to raise capacity to 150,000, but this would take about two years to set up due to lengthy delivery times of production equipment.
>“Really a lot has been delivered to Ukraine,” he said. “But the fact is that today the Ukrainians are shooting less than they could because they do not have enough ammunition.”
Reuters twierdzi, że odbudowa zapasów amunicji zajmie lata t.co/8FFBhivZjz
— Marcin Janiak (@tmp172211) February 15, 2023
NATO literally has no more ammunition.
This was actually the real reason for yesterday’s meeting in Rammstein.
Plus, there’s no money in ammunition production.
The MIC wants to sell expensive new weapons system with lots of maintenance and upgrades.
It’s all about contracts basically.
Meanwhile Russia builds all their factories twice the size they need, specifically in case they need to go into wartime production.
We deserve to lose this one.