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BELFAST — The European Defence Agency (EDA) has signed off on eight joint procurement framework contracts for 155mm ammunition, as European Union member states look to replenish stocks and ramp up supplies of the critical shells to Ukraine.
The EDA said in a statement Tuesday that five of the contracts had been signed with “European industry” at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, during a visit from EU political and security committee ambassadors.
The 155mm rounds have been procured for loading on French Caesar, Polish Krab, German Panzerhaubitze 2000 and Slovakian Zuzana self-propelled howitzers. The EDA said contract values and contractor names had been withheld to “comply with legal obligations and to protect commercially sensitive information.”
It added that, “more framework contracts will soon materialize for other howitzer systems.”
A total of 25 EU members and Norway have signed up to the wider Collaborative Procurement of Ammunition agreement, which allows all signatories access to a two-year 155mm ammunition “fast track” program.
“These framework contracts have been signed as part of a three-track approach to deliver more artillery ammunition and missiles to Ukraine, agreed by the EU Council in March 2023,” said the EDA. “Through these three tracks, the EU is supporting Member States to deliver artillery ammunition and missiles from national stockpiles; to aggregate demand and jointly procure 155mm ammunition; and to ramp up the production capacity of the European defence industry.”
The newly signed contracts come months after NATO pledged to spend $1 billion in 2023 on joint procurements for 155mm ammunition and “address shortfalls” in allied stockpiles.
The war in Ukraine has caused a shortage of the shells across Europe, with around 7,700 rounds being fired by Kyiv per day, according to a Ukrainian military official cited by The Washington Post.
A sizeable decrease in artillery stockpiling by the US in recent years has similarly troubled supplies to Ukraine. Research from the British Royal United Services Institute defense think tank estimated that Defense Department artillery ammunition procurements have been on sharp decline, down 36 percent to $425 million in 2020, with spending on 155mm rounds projected at $174 million in 2022.
James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), said in July that US and allied stocks of the ammunition were “dangerously low,” although the Pentagon has since vowed to increase production from a monthly rate of 24,000 units to 80,000 in 2024. By August 2023, the US had supplied over 2 million 155mm rounds to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, according to Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary.
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