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In a separate but combined effort, Europe is seeking to revive its artillery shell industry. the production capacity for artillery shells in Europe went up 40%

In a separate but combined effort, Europe is seeking to revive its artillery shell industry. the production capacity for artillery shells in Europe went up 40% since start of war, and wants to reach 1.4 million round by end of 2024. However, EU can only supply half of promised shells to Ukraine by March. Right now EU is having gunpowder shortages. The gunpowder is made from specific cotton which mostly comes from China. "Would you know it, deliveries of this cotton from China stopped as if by chance a few months ago," Breton added [1]. Luckily, recently Czech Republic helped to find hundred and thousands of shells for Ukraine recently [2]. Otherwise, because of the republican stalling in congress, Ukraine was only firing 4000 to 7000 artillery shells per day, while Russia was launching 20,000 shells daily [3]. Also very coincidental, Russia has started using 122-mm artillery shells that have similarities to Chinese-made shells [4]. [1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/03/02/world/politics/europe-ukraine-gunpowder-shortage/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/03/02/world/politics/... [2] https://news.yahoo.com/czech-republic-found-hundreds-thousands-123500886.html https://news.yahoo.com/czech-republic-found-hundreds-thousan... [3] https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-nato-artillery-shells-59663a6a14ad180be86bc79a86cea07b https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-nato-artillery... [4] https://mil.in.ua/en/news/russia-has-started-using-122-mm-artillery-shells-that-have-similarities-to-chinese-made-shells/#:~:text=The%20long%2Drange%20artillery%20122,to%20Chinese%20122%2Dmm%20shells https://mil.in.ua/en/news/russia-has-started-using-122-mm-ar....

sbierwagen 3y ago
Fun historical fact, at the height of WW1, Germany was producing 12 million shells a month. Just in the preliminary bombardment at the Battle of the Somme the British fired 1.5 million shells. And now we're scrambling just to achieve one percent of the production we had a century ago. All that industrial base is long gone, of course. Contrary to complaints about war profiteering, artillery shell production is not a terribly attractive business. The equipment can't easily be repurposed, it's not terribly sophisticated so the technological barriers to entry are low, you have one single customer, and the faster and better you provide your product the quicker the war ends and you go out of business. It's like combining the low margins and drudgery of running a factory that stamps out spoons, but with the added risk the spoons might obliterate the plant if a single worker makes a mistake.
- amou234 3y ago
  I wonder if it's fair to call the hodgepodge of localized wars WW3 now? It's clear one alliance - Ukraine, Europe, US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Israel (recently aligned with Ukraine) - is fighting another alliance - Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Hamas, Houthi. With countries supplying technology, money, military stockpiles, and in some ways, foot on the ground. With India trying to play both sides, via purchasing Russian oil, but involved in Aukus. Wikipedia defines a world war as an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Times magazine said "two major power blocs of countries fighting for dominance, with numerous nations on each side taking up arms against each other in more than one theater" [1] [1] https://time.com/6336897/israel-war-gaza-world-war-iii/ https://time.com/6336897/israel-war-gaza-world-war-iii/
  - 48864w6ui 3y ago
    I'd think a world War needs to be hot, not proxy.
    - amou234 3y ago
      is the war still proxy, if the participants send machines (drones, tanks, missile systems) to the battlefields on each side instead of humans? Maybe this is the first post-human world war
  - kibwen 3y ago
    > Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Hamas, Houthi China is the odd man out in this list. China is emphatically not a friend of Russia. Official CCP policy is that Russia stole Outer Manchuria from China in the aftermath of the Opium Wars of the 1850s. Russia is in fact the only country that still holds on to territory gained from the Qing via the Unequal Treaties. If China ever arms enough to attempt to retake Taiwan (which is highly plausible before the end of the decade; 2027 is the current aim), Outer Manchuria--including Vladivostok, Russia's most strategically important port--will be the next target. In the meantime, China is happy to hold Putin over the barrel and wring out Russian exports for bargain-bin prices. Russia is already a Chinese client state, even if it doesn't know it yet.
deleted 3y ago
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sbierwagen 3y ago

Fun historical fact, at the height of WW1, Germany was producing 12 million shells a month. Just in the preliminary bombardment at the Battle of the Somme the British fired 1.5 million shells. And now we're scrambling just to achieve one percent of the production we had a century ago. All that industrial base is long gone, of course. Contrary to complaints about war profiteering, artillery shell production is not a terribly attractive business. The equipment can't easily be repurposed, it's not terribly sophisticated so the technological barriers to entry are low, you have one single customer, and the faster and better you provide your product the quicker the war ends and you go out of business. It's like combining the low margins and drudgery of running a factory that stamps out spoons, but with the added risk the spoons might obliterate the plant if a single worker makes a mistake.

amou234 3y ago
I wonder if it's fair to call the hodgepodge of localized wars WW3 now? It's clear one alliance - Ukraine, Europe, US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Israel (recently aligned with Ukraine) - is fighting another alliance - Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Hamas, Houthi. With countries supplying technology, money, military stockpiles, and in some ways, foot on the ground. With India trying to play both sides, via purchasing Russian oil, but involved in Aukus. Wikipedia defines a world war as an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Times magazine said "two major power blocs of countries fighting for dominance, with numerous nations on each side taking up arms against each other in more than one theater" [1] [1] https://time.com/6336897/israel-war-gaza-world-war-iii/ https://time.com/6336897/israel-war-gaza-world-war-iii/
- 48864w6ui 3y ago
  I'd think a world War needs to be hot, not proxy.
  - amou234 3y ago
    is the war still proxy, if the participants send machines (drones, tanks, missile systems) to the battlefields on each side instead of humans? Maybe this is the first post-human world war
- kibwen 3y ago
  > Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Hamas, Houthi China is the odd man out in this list. China is emphatically not a friend of Russia. Official CCP policy is that Russia stole Outer Manchuria from China in the aftermath of the Opium Wars of the 1850s. Russia is in fact the only country that still holds on to territory gained from the Qing via the Unequal Treaties. If China ever arms enough to attempt to retake Taiwan (which is highly plausible before the end of the decade; 2027 is the current aim), Outer Manchuria--including Vladivostok, Russia's most strategically important port--will be the next target. In the meantime, China is happy to hold Putin over the barrel and wring out Russian exports for bargain-bin prices. Russia is already a Chinese client state, even if it doesn't know it yet.

deleted 3y ago

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