They seem to pick up on things pretty quickly. Heck, use 'em like they were free
"A key problem, said one officer, is that Ukrainian troops are pushing the weapons to their limits — firing them at unprecedented rates and using them long after a U.S. service member would turn them in to be repaired or retired.
Holding up his tablet, the U.S. soldier showed photos of the barrel of a howitzer, its interior ridges nearly worn completely away.
“They’re using these systems in ways that we didn’t necessarily anticipate,” said the officer, pointing to the tablet. “We’re actually learning from them by seeing how much abuse these weapon systems can take, and where’s the breaking point.”
The Ukrainian troops are often reluctant to send the weapons back out of the country for repairs. They’d rather do it themselves, and in nearly all cases — U.S. officials estimated 99% of the time — the Ukrainians do the repair and continue on."
Muzzle loading artillery require wet swabbing the bore between shots or else the loading process can produce a unique cautionary tale if that step is skipped.
From what I’m reading, the rate of artillery ammo expenditure and wear and tear on gun tubes has been an eye-opener for many in DoD. Seems that their planning and forecasts didn’t envision near that amount.
Each tube’s record of firing is supposed to be kept by the NCOIC. They also need to regularly borescoped.
I would imagine that they need an accross the board replacement with new tubes.
A good crew of a half dozen guys can rplace 2 1/2 a day.
According to media reports, the US is buying 100,000 rounds of 155mm from South Korea to transfer to Ukraine.
If there’s anything positive about all this, we’re getting rid of older munitions and replacing them with newer ones. That’s a good thing as far as shelf life is concerned.
And rest assured North Korea is helping out Russia.
Kims sister more or less said so today…
USkraine is not going to win a war of attrition with Russia on this one without American boots on the ground and a full fledged war. (which neither we nor ‘NATO’ countries are about to do)
It’s not. The chart assumes no response from industry.
155mm will ramp to >900K/yr. by 2024, IIRC and that’s just US production alone, forget the rest of NATO where another ~$70-$200B annually will get spent for the next decade or so on all types of weapons. Another 500K - 1M of 155mm shells alone will come from NATO, never mind other calibers…or from other allies like in South Korea. That type of money will get wheels turning on revitalization of a lot of atrophied industry capabilities.
