EU Defense Industry Explains Why Ukraine will not Receive Shells on Time

18 November, 2023 Workpiece of 155mm projectiles at the BAE Systems plant in Washington. Photo by BAE Systems The EU's defense industry denies any fault in the failure of the plan to supply Ukraine with shells.

Recently, EU Foreign Diplomacy Chief Josep Borrell said that defense companies were still exporting 40% of their production all over the world, instead of Ukraine. The Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe stated that it disagreed with such accusations. Obviously, they cannot refuse to fulfill the orders, as this would "seriously undermine the credibility of the European defense industry as a supplier."

"The double challenge for industry today--after decades-long underinvestment and the subsequent reduction of manufacturing capacities--is to ramp up production both to support Ukraine and to replenish and reinforce the stocks of armed forces in Europe," the Association said in its statement.

155mm shells in Tarbes, France. Photo illustration

As for the fact that the European defense industry will not be able to supply Ukraine with about 700,000 rounds of ammunition (300,000 were transferred from the stockpiles of EU member states) by March 2024, the Association emphasized that this "political goal" was very ambitious when it was announced. But they also note that "this number of shells can be delivered, even if it takes a little longer."

"It is a complex process that requires meticulous long-term planning and consideration of various factors to ensure its success, efficiency and viability," the association said in a statement. What's needed to allow companies to invest in long-term production hikes is more long-term contracts, the Association said. "Industry has already significantly expanded its production capacities and increased production as much as possible under adverse circumstances (swelling raw material costs, shortages of qualified workforce, burdensome regulation and administrative processes, paucity of actual orders)," the association's statement reads.

As previously reported, Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine, confirmed media reports that the European Union will not be able to fulfill its plan to supply a million artillery shells to Ukraine until March 2024. According to him, the EU has already started taking certain steps to correct this situation.

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Photo from open sources.

"There are issues, and we are, let's say, ringing the bells a lot and loudly.

I believe that the reason for these issues is not the lack of political will in the EU to support Ukraine.

There is such political will, but, let's say, there is the deplorable state of the defense industry that is capable of producing a sufficient number of shells, and warehouses, and the ability to conclude foreign contracts.

It turned out that there are a lot of obstacles, a lot of unsynchronized things, a lot of bureaucracy," said Kuleba.