US signs $1 billion contract to manufacture bullets used by Ukraine
The United States will produce artillery shells, which Ukraine uses a lot. The United States signed a $1 billion contract to manufacture these shells.
The US military announced on Friday that it has signed a nearly $1 billion contractto increase production of 155mm artillery shells, which are overused by Ukraine.
General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems and American Ordnance LLC will compete for individual orders of the rounds under the $993.7 million contract, the Army said in a statement.
The aim is to produce between 12,000 and 20,000 additional roundsper month, it added.
The announcement comes after the Army awarded $522 million in orders for the same rounds to two other companies in a deal funded by the Pentagon's Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
Ukraine and Russia have fired huge amounts of artillery munitions at each other since the Russian invasion began almost a year ago.
In November, a US official said Russian forces were firing about 20,000 artillery roundsa day.
Ukraine's rate was between 4,000 and 7,000 roundsper day -- faster than allied Western manufacturers can produce to keep pace.
(AFP)