The US has already concluded deals with Bulgaria and South Korea for the supply of shells to Ukraine and is negotiating with Japan to do the same, official representatives confirmed to the Financial Times.
The publication also stated that the arms effort is focused on supplying more 155 mm howitzers used in the howitzers that Ukraine has on the front lines, officials said, including supplies from international allies in the short term and plans to increase production in the US over the next two years.
“We are actively working as quickly as possible to build the production lines for the 155,” Sullivan said. “We don’t want to waste a day, and there’s no tool, no power, no dollar that we can put aside so we can’t do that,” said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
In the past week, information emerged that a little-known company outside professional circles won an order from the Pentagon on January 30, 2023 for the purchase from Bulgaria of thousands of NATO-standard howitzer shells. Global Military Products is a subsidiary of Global Ordnance – a “veteran-owned small tactical equipment and ammunition business”.
In the case of Global Military Products, we are talking about ammunition from Bulgaria, which are far from the most typical product of the Bulgarian arms factories. These are 155 mm shells for howitzers, which the Bulgarian army does not have, their production in the country was presented by the official government at an “experimental” level (to BTV, the economic ministry and VMZ – Sopot, say that serial production is also possible – note ed.), although the local VMZ and “Transmobile” advertise them among the offered products.
“Manufacturing in Bulgaria seems to be the most logical explanation here,” said Greg Sanders, deputy director of the Defense Industry Initiatives Group at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Both Sanders and other experts explained to a specialized American publication that the contracts from the USA point to the existence of “large production possibilities for 155-mm projectiles in Bulgaria”.
According to publicly available information, 36% of the order for Global Military Products has already been completed and its expected completion date is May 24, 2024. (The first contract announcement stated that the expected completion date was January 30, 2027.)
The amount, which was originally $348 million, was increased by $54 million, which appears to have happened with an adjustment in April.
The chronology of the deal indicates that it appears to have been agreed at the end of last year and should be implemented with Bulgaria from March 2023 onwards. This was during the caretaker government appointed by President Rumen Radev.
Journalist Sam Skov of Defense One has received a comment from the Defense Ministry that the facility does not have the capabilities to produce these projectiles. Transmobile, the Bulgarian embassy in Washington and Global Military Products did not respond to the questions.
However, the existence of such deals is reaffirmed by the Financial Times report published on Tuesday, which once again indicated that the Biden administration is seeking to increase the supply of vital munitions to Ukraine to support a counter-offensive against Russian occupation forces.
2023-08-01 10:30:12
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