German arms maker Rheinmetall has won a $153.7 million contract from an unnamed NATO country to produce artillery shells for Ukraine, the company said.
The order includes tens of thousands of NATO-standard 155mm rounds and is expected to be delivered in 2025. It will be manufactured by Rheinmetall Expal Munitions, a Spanish subsidiary.
Earlier, on October 10, Rheinmetall announced that the German government had placed an order for 150,000 artillery shells for Ukraine.
Demand for artillery shells has soared since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, as Ukraine's allies scramble to both supply shells to Ukraine and replenish their own depleted stocks.
Rheinmetall plans a "massive increase" in its production capacity in 2024, for a new total annual output of around 700,000 rounds. It is the largest producer of ammunition in the world.
Both Russia and Ukraine use a significant amount of artillery shells, and there are concerns that Russia is gaining an advantage in terms of shell capacity after it is said to have received over one million shells from North Korea.
Ukrainian officials say US deliveries of 155mm projectiles have dropped by more than 30% since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, a charge the Pentagon denies.
Deliveries of shells from Ukraine's European allies also appear to be falling short of the promised target. On November 10, the Bloomberg agency reported that the EU is unlikely to fulfill its goal of providing one million shells to Ukraine by March 2024. /BGNES
