Including "RBC Ukraine" and "European Pravda", a number of ** reports said that on February 17, local time, the Czech Republic ** Pavel claimed at the Ukrainian luncheon held at the Munich Security Forum that the Czech Republic had found a total of 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine, including 300,000 rounds of 155 mm caliber shells and 500,000 rounds of 122 mm caliber shells, "We need to be as innovative and flexible as Ukrainian soldiers, looking for military equipment everywhere, The Czech Republic has already achieved success in the search for ammunition. ”
However, the Czech Republic Pavel also said that the Czech Republic is currently short of funds and needs to seek help from countries such as the United States, Germany and Sweden"If we can find the funds, these munitions will be able to reach Ukraine in a matter of weeks".
Pavel did not disclose more information about this batch of ammunition, including that the 800,000 shells came from, but some sources speculated that the 800,000 shells were likely to be in stock of private arms dealers, and it may even be deliberately hoarded, and only when the Ukrainian army was most short of shells and Western supporters could not provide assistance in time, they were thrown out, according to the current **, these 800,000 shells are likely to be sold for billions of dollars**, and the Czech Republic ** obviously does not have such a big appetite to swallow and needs to seek help from allies.
At present, the Ukrainian army is in dire need of artillery shells, and the daily shell consumption is already less than 2,000 rounds, in other words, it can only hit less than 60,000 shells a month, and 800,000 shells can almost completely ** the "shell famine" of the Ukrainian army, especially the 500,000 Soviet-style 122 mm caliber shells:
Since the outbreak of the war, the Ukrainian army has quickly run out of Soviet-style artillery shells, and supporters have mainly supplied NATO standard 155 mm and 105 mm caliber shells, and the number of Soviet-style artillery shells found in Eastern European countries and around the world is limited; Ukrainian artillery has a greater need for Soviet-style shells than NATO standard-caliber shells,"While the 155 mm guns of our brother units are roaring, our 122 mm guns are forced to be silent. ”
If the information of the Czech overall Pavel is accurate, and there is indeed such a batch of shells with a number of up to 800,000 rounds, then the biggest problem is funding, as far as the current situation is concerned, there is no hope on the US side, the US House of Representatives has been on holiday, and it will not be until March at the earliest to vote on the new foreign aid bill, and when all the procedures are completed and the funds are in place, it is not known when.
In this case, in the absence of competition from other buyers, whether or not the 800,000 rounds of artillery shells can be bought depends mainly on Europe, especially the European Union and Germany and other countries, fortunately, Europe has more sufficient funds, and it is not a problem to spend billions of dollars to buy these shells.
Here, it should be noted that although the United States has not announced a new military aid plan for a long time due to the exhaustion of funds, according to the previous military aid plan, the United States is still sending military equipment and ammunition to Ukraine, including artillery shells, satellite-guided rockets launched by the "Hippocampus" rocket launcher, and air defense**.
Although the United States has no funds to propose a new military aid plan for Ukraine because Congress has not passed the new foreign military aid bill for a long time, the United States industry is still continuously improving its production capacity, and it is only a matter of time before the new foreign military aid plan is passed.
According to Reuters, Lockheed Martin is increasing production capacity amid escalating safety concerns, and the production of the "Seahorse" rocket launcher alone has increased from the previous 48 to 60 units in 2023, and is expected to reach 96 units this year; At the same time, the production capacity of satellite-guided rockets for the "Hippocampus" rocket launcher will exceed 10,000 this year and increase to 1 in 202540,000 pieces.
According to the Financial Times, a new assessment of Russia's military potential and its threat to NATO security has made the West more vigilant and warned that it could be attacked by Russia, and for this reason, the West, especially European countries, have increased military spending and expanded armaments.
In addition to injecting funds into the development of the industry, European countries also have a large number of ammunition to be purchased, the United States, South Korea and Israel and other countries, are trying to expand the European market, even India and South Africa and other countries, did not miss this hitchhiking, even if they can't compete with Europe and the United States in the high-end market, they can also get a piece of the pie in terms of ammunition, especially in the current situation, as long as the shells are produced, they don't have to worry about selling at all, or selling, the demand for the battlefield in Ukraine is extremely strong, and its supporters have money.