A member of a Ukrainian howitzer crew carries a 155mm artillery shell near the occupied Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on August 17, 2023. Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Pentagon set to make 100K artillery shells a month in 2025
That’s up from an Army projection in August.
The U.S. is on track to produce 100,000 155mm artillery shells per month in 2025, the Pentagon's acquisition chief said Friday. That’s up 18 percent from an August projection.
Currently, the U.S. is producing 28,000 shells per month, and will reach 57,000 per month next spring, Bill LaPlante said Friday during an event at the Center for a New American Security.
“We're mindful of the fact that at that point we'll be producing more than historically that's been produced in decades, but we're also doing it in line with the world situation,” LaPlante said.
The projected monthly production for 2025 is higher than the 85,000 projected in August by Doug Bush, assistant Army secretary for acquisition.
The push is meant to help Ukraine keep up the pace of its counteroffensive and to replenish depleted U.S. stockpiles.
LaPlante highlighted other countries’ contributions to 155mm shell production, including the European Union-launched initiative to reach a million rounds of shells. But he warned these countries need to finalize contracts before production can increase.
“Where are your contracts? Because it doesn't happen till you get the contracts going, and so it's really good to see how quickly other countries around the world are able to get their capacity up,” LaPlante said.
The acquisition chief said he’s flying to Europe next week to meet with other countries’ armament directors to see how other countries are increasing 155mm production, among other weapons efforts.