2 days ago
US Ally Makes Largest Ammo Order in Decades
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Sweden is placing the "largest order" for artillery ammunition in decades, the country's defense minister said on Tuesday, as Europe heaves itself toward massive investments in the military.
Why It Matters
The U.S., which has historically propped up low-spending Europe with its own military capabilities, has said it will be focusing on the Indo-Pacific and insists Europe needs to look after its own defense.
Sweden, NATO's newest member, joined the alliance after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, and, like other nations staring down Moscow, has forged ahead with quick surges in military spending.
Many of the eastern-flank countries are more eager to spend more money on defense than swathes of western or southern Europe, geographically much farther from Russia. These nations also typically put more of an emphasis on making all of society ready for the possibility of war with Russia.
Archer Artillery System of the Boden Artillery Regiment A8 seen during the Aurora 23 military exercise at the Rinkaby firing range outside Kristianstad, Sweden, Saturday, May 6, 2023.
Archer Artillery System of the Boden Artillery Regiment A8 seen during the Aurora 23 military exercise at the Rinkaby firing range outside Kristianstad, Sweden, Saturday, May 6, 2023.
Johan Nilsson /TT News Agency via AP
What To Know
Sweden's order, worth about $526 million— the country's largest since the 1980s—will bolster the country's Archer self-propelled artillery systems, Defense Minister Pål Jonson said.
German defense giant Rheinmetall and Norwegian company Nammo will produce the ammunition, Jonson said.
Building up artillery ammunition stocks is high on the to-do list for both NATO and the European Union. The most in-demand shells, 155mm rounds, have been harder and harder for Ukraine to get hold of as the war has dragged on.
"In terms of ammunition, Russia produces in three months what the whole of NATO produces in a year," NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in June.
NATO members in June agreed on what are referred to as capability targets, which each country must meet for the alliance's overall needs. The alliance inked a pledge to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP in order to meet these targets, with the exception of Spain. Of the 5 percent, 3.5 percent will go toward specifically military investment, while the remaining 1.5 will be spent on related areas, like making sure road infrastructure can carry the weight of tanks if needed.
The exact targets are classified, but Rutte said ahead of the summit in The Hague last month that the alliance would invest in a "five-fold increase" in air defense capabilities, as well as "thousands more tanks and armored vehicles" and millions of artillery rounds.
Countries backing Ukraine have struggled to muster up enough artillery rounds to keep Kyiv's systems firing. The European Union has not yet found all the funds to supply Ukraine with the 2 million shells it was promised by the end of this year.
A Czech-led ammunition drive, which looks across the world for shells to buy for Ukraine, has furnished Kyiv with more than 3 million large-caliber rounds, according to NATO, but with elections coming up in the fall, the future of the initiative is murky.
There are also concerns about finding enough of the materials and chemicals used to make artillery ammunition.
What People Are Saying
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said earlier this year: "Ukraine is in great need of ammunition, particularly artillery shells."
