U.S. aims to double 155mm shell production for Ukraine

That’s according to Defense One, citing Army acquisition chief Doug Bush as saying, Ukrinform reports.

“The Army aims to double production of a key munition used in Ukraine by October, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush said today,” reads the report posted February 5.

U.S. production of 155mm artillery shells is slated to rise from 28,000 last October—the most recent month for which hard numbers have been released—to roughly 37,000 in April and about 60,000 in October 2024, according to a slide shared at a CSIS think tank event.

The Army then hopes to rapidly increase production in 2025, from just under 75,000 shells that April to 100,000 in October, the slide also showed.

That planned increase is due in part to a new factory the Army is building in Texas, which will “have an entirely new way of making the shell, using entirely new tech we've never used before,” Bush said.

The availability of ammunition, especially large artillery shells like 155mm, has kept Ukraine from matching Russia’s volume of fire. Currently, Ukrainian forces fire around 2,000 shells per day, about one-fifth the Russian output.

The massive use of the munitions like 155mm shells may trigger a rethinking of how much the U.S. needs in its own stockpiles, Bush said.

“If larger stockpiles are a way to mitigate risk for an extended conventional conflict, then that needs to be looked at,” he said.

The U.S. has not needed to increase production of smaller artillery shells, tank shells, or mortar rounds for Ukraine, as the U.S. has been able to meet Ukraine’s needs without significantly running down its own stockpiles, Bush said. 

As reported, Estonia's Permanent Representative to NATO, Juri Luik, believes the European Union will not be able to provide Ukraine with a million rounds of ammunition by March, but will be able to complete these deliveries by the end of the year.