MY NUMBER 1 RECOMMENDATION TO CREATE FULL TIME INCOME ONLINE: CLICK HERE
Ukraine received 5,000 NLAW from the UK, along with thousands of javelins, sulfur and other anti-tank weapons, 16,000 artillery rounds, hundreds of rockets and six Stormer vehicles equipped with Starstreak anti-aircraft missile launchers.
Overall, UK military support to Ukraine has been worth £2.3bn to date.
In the past six weeks, the government has promised to supply 20 M109 155mm self-propelled guns and 36 L119 105mm small artillery pieces. The M109 generally resembles a tank, but is designed to fire larger shells at much longer ranges to shell enemy positions. Therefore, it is more lightly armored than a true main battle tank. It fires high-explosive shells, has a range of 21 km (13 mi) and requires a crew of six.
The L119 light gun, so named because it weighs less than competing models and is therefore easier to move, is similar to the type of gun that is fired from Edinburgh Castle every day at 1pm. It is small enough to be lifted by a helicopter or towed by a road vehicle and has a range of 11.4 km (7.1 miles) using 105 mm rounds.
If this sounds like Britain and its allies have thrown everything, including the kitchen sink, at Ukraine, there is some truth to this view. Indeed, the assortment of military hardware being sent to Kyiv may create its own problem in terms of training, familiarization and ease of resupply.
A July report to the Russians on the ammunition supply problems facing the Ukrainian military said: “One of the challenges here is that NATO standardization is not very standardized, with howitzers from different countries not only having completely different maintenance requirements, but also using different charges, fuzes and sometimes grenades. .
“The current approach of each country donating a battery of weapons piecemeal is quickly turning into a logistical nightmare for Ukrainian forces, with each battery requiring a separate training, maintenance and logistics pipeline.
“For support to Ukraine to be sustainable, it is necessary to supply one or two types of weapons and countries to accelerate the production of the appropriate ammunition,” adds the author of the report, Jack Watling.
Ukraine will need a regular supply of shells, which can vary widely even within the broad 155mm category, he warns. As current ammunition stocks dwindle, Ukrainians are already looking for new sources of supply.
The sources said they were looking at British foundries capable of making casings for 155 mm artillery shells, such as those fired by NATO howitzers donated to Kiev, such as the M777, French Caesars and German PzH 2000 provided by the US.
Enclosures must be manufactured to a high standard. BAE Systems makes the 155mm rounds for the UK, but Ukrainian officials appear keen to diversify their supplies and select multiple sources to minimize potential production delays.
BAE’s Washington-based foundry in Tyne and Wear manufactures metal sleeves. These are then sent to the former Royal Ordnance Factory in Glascoed, Monmouthshire, Wales, to be filled with high explosives.
Exact figures on production capacity and the state of Britain’s military stocks are not made public, but there is no doubt that UK officials are now having similar conversations with the defense industry base as their American counterparts.
There is said to be some capacity in the UK to add production line shifts to increase supply, although some analysts say the 155mm base rounds are not a critical bottleneck for Ukraine.
“Newer, exotic 155mm munitions are also experiencing delays for the same reason as MLRS missiles,” says Drummond, the defense analyst.
“The production of small-caliber weapons, medium-caliber weapons and tank ammunition was expanded without major problems.
“A lot of companies like BAE Systems have ramped up production.”
So far, there has been no need to increase the number of shifts at the munitions factories, Drummond says. “In general, I don’t see any serious obstacles to resupplying ammunition stocks,” he adds. “The real problem is the production of tanks and [infantry fighting vehicles]. “The timeline is basically 36 months from order to delivery.”
Leveling the playing field
With winter fast approaching, a three-year delivery time for brand new military vehicles is clearly impractical. This is one of the reasons why Western stockpiles of ammunition and ready-to-use vehicles are sent to the East: buying new and waiting for factories to deliver is simply not an option for Ukraine.
It’s a rosier story for Vladimir Putin’s forces, at least when it comes to ammunition supplies. According to a report released by the Russians last month, the Russians have years of artillery ammunition at their disposal. Russia fires 20,000 grenades a day compared to 6,000 by the Ukrainians, he said.
The use of drones and radar jamming makes their attacks particularly effective against Ukrainian positions, although Ukrainian forces have recently adapted using decoy positions to attract Russian fire. Countering this means having weapons available to destroy Russian military formations.
Drummond says production of the javelin, NLAW and “other complex weapons” is increasing accordingly. But he sounds cautious, adding that there are “delays on long-lasting items like chips and controller parts”.
“This particularly affects the M31 missiles for the Himars,” he says.
Ukraine has been given 16 US-made Himars systems, which have proven formidable for attacking Russian airfields and key strategic blocking points such as bridges. But ammo is expensive and in short supply.
The Himars, also known as the US-made M142 High Mobility Artillery Missile System, is essentially an armored truck with six rocket-launching tubes attached to a platform trailer. Its operating concept is simple: launch missiles at a target, then quickly drive to a safe place.
So-called “counter-battery fire,” targeting artillery batteries when they open up, has become a real problem for the Ukrainians thanks to Russia’s array of radars, sensor-equipped drones, and its own rapid-deployment artillery vehicles; Himars is one of the pieces of Western artillery leveling the playing field for the Ukrainians.
However, Himars M31 missiles, made by Lockheed Martin, are much more complex than the truck that launches them. Missiles are guided by an inertial measurement unit supported by GPS, which means that each weapon has a complex computer system built into it.
Each contains computer chips, antennas and processors, all built to exacting standards so they can survive launch loads at the speeds required to fly for the missile’s maximum range of 43 miles.
In July, retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling estimated that the 16 Himars missile systems America sent to Ukraine could fire 192 missiles a day — the equivalent of a year’s production in less than two months.
The same missiles are also fired from the M270 Guided Multiple Launch Vehicle, the armored and tracked older brother of the Himars.
.
MY NUMBER 1 RECOMMENDATION TO CREATE FULL TIME INCOME ONLINE: CLICK HERE