Operation Sword
According to a number of news outlets, including RBC Ukraine and European Pravda, Czech Pavel announced during the lunch of the Ukrainian Security Conference in Munich on February 17 that the country had raised a total of 800,000 ammunition for Ukraine, including 300,000 155 mm and 500,000 122 mm. "We have to search for military equipment in a creative and agile way, like the Ukrainian servicemen, and the Czech Republic has achieved great success in the search for these **.
However, the Czech ** Pavel also said that the Czech Republic is now short of money and must turn to such countries as the United States, Germany, Sweden for help. "As long as we have the money, those arms can reach Ukraine in a matter of weeks," he said. ”
Pavel did not further disclose the details of these **, such as the 800,000 bullets**, but according to people familiar with the matter, these bullets are very likely to be the inventory of private ** businessmen, or intentionally, when the Ukrainian military is in urgent need, but the supporters of Western countries are unable to support, they will sell at sky-high prices, with the current market**, 800,000 bullets can be sold for billions of dollars, and the Czech Republic ** obviously does not want to eat alone, so it can only ask for help from other countries.
Now the Ukrainian military is in urgent need of ammunition, and the number of ammunition consumed per day does not exceed 2,000, that is, at most more than 60,000 rounds per month, which is enough to make up for the "shell famine" of the Ukrainian army, especially half a million Soviet-style 122 mm ammunition.
Since the beginning of World War II, Soviet-made ammunition has been rapidly used by the Ukrainian military, and most of the supporters** are NATO-standard 155 mm and 105 mm ammunition, and there are very few Soviet-made ammunition that can be found in Eastern Europe and the world; Ukraine's artillery needs more Soviet-made ammunition than NATO-standard ammunition, "the Allied 155 mm cannon roars, and our army's 122 mm cannon has only one way to dud." ”
If Mr. Pavel is right, the Czech Republic really has more than 800,000 rounds of ammunition, it is a matter of money, and now it seems that the United States has no hope at all, the US Congress has begun to take a vacation, and the new foreign aid bill will not be voted on until March, and when all the formalities are completed, the money may not be obtained.
If no one is willing to bid with them, then most of the orders will depend on Europe, especially Germany and the European Union, but fortunately there is no shortage of money in Europe, so they only need to spend billions of dollars to buy all these ammunition.
Here, it must be pointed out that although the United States has not officially released a new arms assistance program for a long time due to the depletion of funds, according to the previous arms assistance program, the United States will continue to send military equipment and arms to Ukraine, including artillery shells, "Hippocampus" missiles, and some anti-aircraft missiles.
Although the United States does not have enough money to provide new military aid to Ukraine due to the postponement of the new military aid bill, the output of the American industry is still steadily increasing, new military aid projects will be approved soon, and as the United States has more and more reserves, they do not have to worry about their products being snapped up.
According to Reuters, Lockheed Martin has been ramping up its capabilities due to growing concerns about security, and the number of Seahorses alone has increased from 48 to 60 units, and this year, it is expected to increase to 96 units; At the same time, the satellite-guided missiles used on the Hippocampus missile will exceed 10,000 this year and reach 14,000 by 2025.
According to the Financial Times, a new assessment of Russia's military power and its threat to NATO has made the West more vigilant about Russia and issued a warning from the West, which has made Western countries led by Europe increase their military spending and equipment.
While European countries are investing money in the development of military industry, a large number of arms also have to rely on imports, the United States, South Korea, Israel, all want to enter Europe, and even India and South Africa have not let go of this opportunity, although they cannot compete with Europe and the United States, but they can also occupy a place in arms, and now in the war in Ukraine, they are not short of money.