NATO spends $1.2 billion to buy artillery shells

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Photo: Reuters).

"The war in Ukraine has become a battle for ammunition," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after a contract signing ceremony at alliance headquarters in Brussels on January 23.

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) signed the deal on behalf of several allies. The contract, worth 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), allows NATO to buy 155mm artillery shells.

NATO officials revealed that the contract could provide about 220,000 artillery shells, with the first deliveries expected by the end of 2025.

According to a source, the artillery shells will be supplied by French arms manufacturer Nexter and German Junghans.

Mr Stoltenberg said that since NATO launched a programme to address allies’ military stockpile shortfalls in July last year, the NSPA had agreed deals worth around $10 billion (9.19 billion euros). These included artillery shells, tank ammunition and Patriot air defence missiles.

At a meeting in February, NATO defense ministers will discuss other ways to boost defense industry production, which the secretary general said was necessary to ensure the West could continue to support Kiev.

Last week, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov described the country's ammunition shortage as a "hunger for shells," saying it was a major problem for Kiev's military after nearly two years of conflict with Russia.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/nato-chi-12-ty-usd-mua-dan-phao-20240123212743153.htm