SMALL STORES: Defense chief Eirik Kristoffersen is hosting 32 defense chiefs in NATO’s military committee in Oslo this week. Photo: Paul S. Amundsen / VG
18 months after Russia’s invasion, Ukraine and NATO countries are still struggling with critically low stocks of ammunition and missiles. On Saturday, the chiefs of defense in all NATO countries will meet in Oslo to discuss possible solutions.
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The chiefs of defense in all NATO countries will discuss possible solutions to critically low stocks of ammunition and missiles in Oslo. Russia is now increasing its production capacity. That worries defense chief Eirik Kristoffersen. Order lists have grown in the defense industry since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with a critical shortage of ammunition for NATO countries. Russia has managed to circumvent the sanctions and has ramped up its own production of ammunition. It could mean a colder and darker winter for Ukraine. Show more
– It is still going too slowly, says defense chief Eirik Kristoffersen to VG.
– All the defense chiefs that I speak to say that the need to acquire is greater than production. Everyone sees it. Russia is now increasing its production capacity to supply the war in Ukraine. When the war stops, Russia will be able to continue the production of ammunition at a high level. That worries me in the medium term. So the need is still enormous, he adds.
Fill up new defense plans
NATO’s military committee meets in Oslo later this week: 31 defense chiefs from NATO member states, plus almost-member Sweden.
The security measures around the meeting are significant. It has not been announced where in Oslo the meeting will take place.
The main theme of the defense chiefs’ meeting is how the NATO countries are to deliver real forces to NATO’s new defense plans, which NATO’s heads of state and government adopted in Vilnius this summer.
The backbone of the plans is that the member states put more than 300,000 soldiers on alert for NATO. That is close to a tenfold increase in NATO’s available forces.
Graduate in three years
The meeting in Oslo will also elect a new leader of NATO’s military committee for three years, after the Dutch general Rob Bauer, who will step down next summer.
Kristoffersen says that he is not a candidate this time, but does not rule out that he may be eligible at the next change in three years:
– If someone wants me as a candidate for the military committee in three years’ time, I will stand as a candidate. Right now I am more comfortable being chief of defense in Norway, and I want to be chief of defense for as long as possible, says Kristoffersen.
THE GAP: The industry is not close to covering the enormous need for ammunition in Ukraine, and the need to increase stocks in NATO countries. The picture is from Nammo’s production facility at Raufoss. Photo: Hallgeir Vågenes / VG
Nammo: This is the need
Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, order lists have grown at the defense industry. It quickly became clear to the NATO countries that they were in critical shortage of ammunition.
The Norwegian ammunition manufacturer Nammo has described this clearly in a statement to the government according to the Defense Commission’s report:
Nammo suggests that a preparedness for a 60-day war will require 26 million rounds, while a total industrial capacity in the NATO countries is probably below one million shells a year.
This is how Nammo summarizes the big picture:
Ukraine consumes and needs large quantities of ammunition in the war against Russia. NATO’s stocks of artillery shells are reported to be very small, while the demand is enormous to replace donations to Ukraine, and to increase its own stocks. The US – but also other NATO countries – want to have an additional capacity in case a conflict arises elsewhere, for example in Southeast Asia. The European NATO countries want to strengthen their own production of ammunition and defense material.
“Nammo is now doing everything in the company’s power to increase production so that we can offer what Norway and our allies in NATO need. The investments at Raufoss have increased tenfold. But if we are to have any realistic ambition to reach the goal, the investments may have to be a hundred times greater, writes Nammo.
Going too slow
– Norway started to build up its own warehouses in 2016. Fortunately, says Eirik Kristoffersen.
– But now we are more than 18 months into the war. I think this is going too slowly. We know that Ukraine needs support, but we also know that all NATO countries need to increase their stockpiles. The demand is great, but the ability to deliver is small, he adds.
– What is the defense chiefs’ solution?
– We cannot order the industry to increase production. But if we imagine that all countries should be prepared for a 40-day war, and the industry is unable to deliver what we expect to use, then we do not have a real preparedness. The industry must gain predictability in order to increase its production. One solution could be for the industry to have inputs such as gunpowder, steel and lead in stock, but not assemble the grenades until the need arises.
MILITARY LEADER: Admiral Rod Bauer heads NATO’s military committee, which meets in Oslo later this week. Here he listens to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a meeting of the contact group for Ukraine in October 2022. Photo: Olivier Matthys / AP / NTB
Nato-standard
Another possible solution is for the NATO countries to switch to one and the same standard. The Chief of Defense cites one example:
In the NATO force in Lithuania, both Norway and Germany use Leopard tanks from the same supplier in Germany. But the countries have different standards for their ammunition. This means that grenades in the Norwegian Leopard vehicles cannot be easily fired from the German tanks.
– We should at least try to coordinate, so that not everyone has anti-aircraft missiles at the same time. Can we handle the risk of someone buying anti-aircraft missiles, while other countries buy tank ammunition and put it in a common stockpile? In that case, we must develop common standards so that this is practically possible, says the chief of defence.
Russia increases production
The New York Times writes on Wednesday that Russia has managed to circumvent the sanctions and has accelerated its own production of ammunition. The fact that they can now produce more than the NATO countries causes great concern in NATO’s capitals.
Russia should now be able to produce seven times as many missiles annually as the West, and at a much lower cost, according to Kusti Salm, administrative head of the Ministry of Defense in Estonia.
Better access to missiles on the Russian side could mean a colder and darker winter for Ukraine, American authorities worry, according to the newspaper’s sources.
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Published: 14.09.23 at 12:33 p.m
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2023-09-14 10:33:32
#Critical #shortage #ammunition #Nato #sees
