Canadian General and other top military officials raise alarm over critical shortage of artillery shells among allied forces, including Canada

A top NATO official and Canada’s top military commander warned allies last week that their ammunition shortage has reached a crisis state and they are calling for urgent action to boost production of critical artillery rounds.

Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of the Defense Staff, recently told a House of Commons committee that if Canadian troops were called upon to fire their big guns at the same rate as Ukrainian troops fighting to repel the Russian invasion, their supply of shells would last for only a few days.

At this week’s Warsaw Security Forum, Admiral Rob Bauer, head of NATO’s military council, warned that “the bottom of the barrel is now visible” in terms of how much ammunition the alliance has available to transfer to Ukraine.

Most Allies Sign Ammunition Deals

Most of Canada’s key allies have in recent months signed agreements with ammunition suppliers to increase monthly production of artillery shells, primarily 155-millimeter ammunition, the type used by Canada’s M-777 howitzers.

The federal government has yet to reach its own deal to increase supplies of shells, the House of Commons defense committee was told Thursday.

“I am very concerned about our ammunition reserves,” Eyre said. “NATO’s high readiness forces ask us to have what is called 30 days of supply.

“If we consumed ammunition [at] at the same rate that we are seeing them [fired] In Ukraine, in some cases, we would run out of stock in a few days and it would take years to restock.”

This week in Warsaw, Bauer said increased production is needed among the allies because decades of underinvestment left some ammunition warehouses half full (or emptier) after donations to Ukraine.

Although estimates are difficult to obtain, Ukrainian forces are reported to be firing up to 5,000 artillery rounds per day to push back the Russian invasion.

Canada produces 3,000 155-millimeter artillery shells per month under a framework called the Ammunition Supply Program. This is a standing agreement with five private sector companies – the most notable being General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Canada (GDOT-C) – to maintain stocks and provide surge capacity in times of crisis.

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Eyre said, production has not increased.

“We have not produced a single additional ammunition in this country since February 22,” he told the committee. Eyre called for a greater sense of urgency and said more production lines should be opened as soon as possible.

“This is something that worries me a lot,” he said.

Canada needs better ammunition, says Eyre

The defense chief also said Canada needs to produce the more lethal and accurate 155-millimeter round, known as the M-795 variant. It has a longer range and larger blast radius than the M-107 projectiles currently produced under the federal government framework.

During the same committee hearing, Deputy Defense Minister Bill Matthews said discussions are underway with companies involved in the Ammunition Supply Program. One of the themes of those discussions, he said, is the fact that Canada does not produce “the most desirable variant” of 155-millimeter projectiles.

“It’s a long process that requires investment and there are ongoing discussions about investing to improve production, but it’s not a quick fix,” Matthews said.

It’s unclear whether those investments would come from companies or the federal government.

Since February 2022, the Pentagon has signed contracts worth $2.26 billion to produce 155-millimeter projectiles. The deals have helped boost U.S. production from 14,000 shells a month before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine to about 20,000 a month today. In August, senior US Defense Department officials said the intention is to increase production to 100,000 per month by 2025.

‘Why is there no urgency?’

Opposition critics said they are baffled that Canada has not yet reached a deal to speed up production with GDOT-C, which has three plants in Quebec and 1,500 employees.

“This is the most popular military product, perhaps the most popular in the world right now,” Conservative MP Pat Kelly said during last week’s defense committee hearing. “Why is there no urgency in increasing production?”

Christyn Cianfarani is President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Defense and Security Industries (CADSI). This week she told the House of Commons defense committee that, while she is aware of proposals to increase shell production, to date no legally binding agreement has been signed.

“I have not seen these proposals, but I understand from companies that proposals have been submitted to the Government of Canada to increase shell production to modify the [production] lines, particularly for 155 [shells]”said Cianfarani.

Testifying before the same committee Thursday night, Defense Department procurement official Troy Crosby said the federal government had received proposals nearly a year ago from two of the companies that are part of the framework. of ammunition.

He said they proposed establishing a production line to manufacture the M-795 variant of the projectile; A $200 million plan was approved and recommended to the government.

“Since then, industry estimates have doubled to $400 million, and we are now reconsidering that investment,” Crosby said, noting that the money would only be to set up the production lines, not to buy the casings.

He offered no timeline for making a decision on the revised proposal. Once approved, it would apparently be three years before factories could begin producing ammunition, Crosby said.

Earlier this year, the European Union set aside $2.2 billion for the joint procurement and delivery of up to an additional one million artillery munitions for Ukraine by early 2024. It also plans to spend an additional $550 million to boost the defense industry. of the EU. capabilities in ammunition production.

There have been extensive discussions about working-level munitions production among NATO allies, Crosby said.

Since the full-scale invasion began, Canada has delivered five separate shipments of 155-millimeter artillery ammunition to Ukraine, a total of 40,000 rounds. Half was purchased from the United States government, while the other half came from the Canadian military’s inventory.

Canada has also donated 1,800 105-millimeter tank cartridges.

The UK Ministry of Defense says it has delivered more than 300,000 rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine and in a recent statement said it is committed to delivering “tens of thousands more” before the end of the year.

The United States has donated more than two million rounds of 155-millimeter ammunition to Ukraine.