2023 US Munitions production

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NeilChapman

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The United States and her allies are sending significant quanties of munitions to Ukraine. This is in response to what Russia calls its "special operation" and most others call the Russian Invasion which escalated in February 2022.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia page of military aid to Ukraine.

en.m.wikipedia.org

List of military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org

The numbers are truly staggering. While they are continually supplied, Ukraine may currently have one of the largest, most effective, armies in Europe.

I have seen limited new or slow production increases to replace these munitions. I'm hoping that others may have been more vigilant and can provide additional information.

I'm looking for news stories, appropriations, or discussions related to munitions and their production rates. Thank you!
 
www.csis.org

Rebuilding U.S. Inventories: Six Critical Systems

Are U.S. weapons inventories getting too low because of transfers to Ukraine? Although most inventories are acceptable, some key munitions will take many years to replace. Often, there are workarounds, but there may be a crisis brewing over artillery ammunition.
www.csis.org www.csis.org
 
www.defenseone.com

A Lack of Machine Tools Is Holding Back Ammo Production, Army Says

The U.S. has enough raw materials, but the heavy equipment used to make artillery shells aren’t easy to buy.
www.defenseone.com www.defenseone.com

People assume US production capacity bc of the WWII ramp. And even then the ramp took two years. That was when the US built things and machine tools were abundant. NAFTA put the kibosh on that.
 

“What the Ukraine conflict showed is that, frankly, our defense industrial base was not at the level that we needed it to be to generate munitions,”

Duh...

It's not just the factories that are needed. It's the hundreds of suppliers that surround the factories. It's the hundreds of manufacturers of machine tools that supply those suppliers. It's the expertise of the engineers that design those machine tools and their ability
- and -
their capacity to change that production to meet the demands of a war time economy.

You can't just know how to build things. You have to build things.
 
Last edited:
NeilChapman said:
People assume US production capacity bc of the WWII ramp. And even then the ramp took two years. That was when the US built things and machine tools were abundant. NAFTA put the kibosh on that.
Click to expand...
The US was also able to build off the back of 4 years worth of production capacity increases as a result of materiel orders from the likes of the Netherlands, Finland, France and the UK...when they entered the war their military industries had in effect been at war footing for nearly 4 years already.

I suppose you could argue that, by default, with the huge US military budget now (as opposed to the miniscule one in the mid to late 30's) that US industry is already at a war footing.
 
timmymagic said:
NeilChapman said:
People assume US production capacity bc of the WWII ramp. And even then the ramp took two years. That was when the US built things and machine tools were abundant. NAFTA put the kibosh on that.
Click to expand...
The US was also able to build off the back of 4 years worth of production capacity increases as a result of materiel orders from the likes of the Netherlands, Finland, France and the UK...when they entered the war their military industries had in effect been at war footing for nearly 4 years already.

I suppose you could argue that, by default, with the huge US military budget now (as opposed to the miniscule one in the mid to late 30's) that US industry is already at a war footing.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't argue that the US is on a war footing bc of its current budget. The capacity does not exist at the moment.
 
NeilChapman said:

“What the Ukraine conflict showed is that, frankly, our defense industrial base was not at the level that we needed it to be to generate munitions,”

Duh...

It's not just the factories that are needed. It's the hundreds of suppliers that surround the factories. It's the hundreds of manufacturers of machine tools that supply those suppliers. It's the expertise of the engineers that design those machine tools and their ability
- and -
their capacity to change that production to meet the demands of a war time economy.

You can't just know how to build things. You have to build things.
Click to expand...
Lead times are crazy for some things because there is such a demand and little capacity.
 
sferrin said:
NeilChapman said:
...

You can't just know how to build things. You have to build things.
Click to expand...
Lead times are crazy for some things because there is such a demand and little capacity.
Click to expand...
Agreed

In WWII there was a production Czar. He oversaw the required changes to the system. Quite a feat actually.

It took 10 years to get F-35 production to 17 airframes per month. It takes at least 6 years to build an aircraft carrier. It will take at least two years to ramp US 155mm production to 90k per month. Which is still less than the reported 250k per month Ukraine is requesting. The combined EU only manufacturered 25k shells a month last year. It will take years to replenish stocks.
 
www.theguardian.com

UK will miss out on EU’s ‘massive’ increase in arms spending for Ukraine

Only EU and Norwegian firms will be able to take advantage of joint procurement agreement, says leaked paper
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

According to the leaked discussion paper that will be in front of ministers, member states are initially being encouraged to offer up their spare stockpiles of ammunition to Kyiv, of which up to 90% of the cost could be reimbursed by Brussels.
There will also be a seven-year plan to start this spring under which European industry will be encouraged to scale up manufacturing to meet both Ukraine’s demands and those of the member states.
 
I wish the US would start getting its munitions infrastructure rolling to compete with China.
 
On the small arms front, sport shooters are having difficulties getting supplies for making their own ammunition. Particularly, primers have become unobtainium.

Presumably, production is going to governmental buyers.

New production lines are in progress (I know that Vihtavuori, part of Nammo, has a plant coming) but it takes time to build them and get production started.
 
Yup. Some cartridges are also still harder to find.
 
perttime said:
On the small arms front, sport shooters are having difficulties getting supplies for making their own ammunition. Particularly, primers have become unobtainium.

Presumably, production is going to governmental buyers.

New production lines are in progress (I know that Vihtavuori, part of Nammo, has a plant coming) but it takes time to build them and get production started.
Click to expand...
Both powder and primers are showing back up in gun stores... albeit at prices 5-7 times their pre-2021 prices.

Bullets have been back for many months... it is empty shells that is the remaining shortage.
 

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