Commission finds 24,000 mines seized from the Armed Forces defective
28 November, 2024 120 mm mortar shells from Ukroboronprom for the Ukrainian military. February 2023, Europe. Photo credits: UkrOboronProm
A Ministry of Strategic Industries and Ministry of Defense commission found 24,000 mortar shells supplied to the Armed Forces to be defective. Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin reported on this. The batches of 120-mm artillery ammunition withdrawn from the troops were re-inspected by the manufacturer in response to complaints received from the Logistics Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Smetanin stated that out of the batches totaling 54,000 mines suspected of malfunctioning, about 24,000 units are to be returned to the manufacturer. Today, the Ministry of Defense is withdrawing products from these batches in accordance with established procedures, and the manufacturer is replacing them with high-quality units. Smetanin emphasized that the number of defective ammunition is less than 1% of the products manufactured this year.
In total, since the beginning of 2024, Ukrainian defense companies have supplied millions of artillery and mortar rounds to the Defense Forces. In addition, based on the results of the Commission's work, manufacturing plants are strengthening product quality control at all stages of production, starting with the receipt of purchased components.
Defective ammunition
In its article regarding the defective 120mm mortar shells, ZN.UA reported that soldiers faced failures and shortages of VOF-843B mines produced by one of Ukraine's state defense enterprises. The first serious problems with them were reported in September of this year.
Soldiers encountered a failure to eject the mine from the barrel, failure to explode when it hit the target, and deviation from the aiming point by hundreds of meters. In one unit, out of 17 shells fired, nine failed to reach the target within 600 meters, seven did not explode (three did not leave the barrel at all), and only one hit the target. When the mines were replaced with another type from a different manufacturer, the target was destroyed with four shots (two direct hits) from the second shot in a 20-meter dispersion pattern.
As it was reported by the media, as well as due to the investigation by Yuriy Butusov, the technical problems of the ammunition are related to the supply of dried powder, defective high explosive charges, and inadequate B-429 fuses, which are generally intended for tank ammunition.
A defective Ukrainian 120 mm mortar shell, November 2024.
Photo credits: TSN
In addition, the reason for defective shells is inadequate quality control of the initial product, both by the manufacturer and military acceptance authorities.