Lessons from the Ukraine War: US Supply-Chain issues.
The problems I will discuss exist across a broad swathe of munitions, but to simplify things, I am going to focus on 155mm artillery shells.
02/24/2022:
The US Army owns the production facilities, but they are run by contractors. Most facilities for 155mm shells have been shutdown, and those operating have not been modernized since the 1960s.
Peak production capacity is 14,000/month.
(2022 continues)
Complicating production, explosive compounds required are not produced domestically, and INM-101 production in the UK is very limited and dependent on other materials from yet other countries.
02/24/2023
The UK (BAE Systems) increases production of IMX-101, Poland increases production of chemicals for IHE. US army increases 155mm shell production to 30,000 per month.
(2023) continued
2023
Supply chain issues persist, construction of US plants to produce DNAN, NTO, NQ, RDX and HMX IHE compounds underway. Slated completion 2025
2024 - We remain at about 30,000 155mm artillery shells per month. The supply chain issues affecting these artillery shells also affect production capacity of other munitions.
We and our allies were not remotely prepared for a prolonged war that made use of artillery systems like our Howitzers.
(2024 contd)