Russian artillery: Effective or running out of stock?

Moscow, Dec 05: The speed at which Russia is burning its ammunition in Ukraine exceeds the ability of its defense industry to produce it. This was stated by the Director of National Intelligence of the United States, Avril Haines. At the same time, according to her, Russia uses precision-guided munitions even faster than conventional ones.

 

 

 

Russia is using up ammunition “quite quickly,” driving the Kremlin to look at other nations for help, Haines told NBC News. “And our own sense is that they are not capable of indigenously producing what they are expanding at this stage. So that is going to be a challenge.”

 

 

 

The US recently claimed that Russia was firing a stupendous 20,000 artillery rounds a day, even as it has suffered a series of setbacks on the battlefield. Earlier, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that there are four enemies of Russia’s missile arsenal while suggesting that the country is running low on missiles. “Four enemies of the Russian missile arsenal: brilliant Ukrainian air defense forces; inept Russian missile forces; sanctions; time,” Reznikov said in a tweet on November 22, as he shared an illustration showing Russia’s high-precision missile arsenal as of November 18. “Let’s demilitarize the terrorist state to live in peace!” the Ukrainian defense minister continued. As per the illustration shared by Reznikov, as of November 18, Russia is left with 8,476 missiles out of its pre-war stockpile of 11,227, which includes ground-launched, sea-launched, and air-launched missiles. Notably, these 8,476 missiles also include the additional 664 missiles produced by the Russian defense industry since the war in Ukraine began in February. In October, the Chief of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Directorate of Intelligence told Ukrainian Pravda that just 13% of Russia’s Iskander ballistic missiles were left. “About 13% remains for Iskanders, about 43% for Kalibr-PL, Kalibr-NK missiles, and about 45% for Kh-101 and Kh-555 missiles. It is generally hazardous to fall below 30% because it already goes to NZ [intact reserve], Budanov said. In a rare occurrence, Kremlin also admitted in late October the problems faced by the Russian Army with the supply of equipment for its conscripted soldiers after President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization order, which according to Russian officials, would affect around 300,000 reservists. “Indeed, there were problems with the equipment, including some of them still exist, although the vigorous measures taken to rectify the situation are already yielding the first positive results,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Peskov said that Coordination Council created by President Putin on October 20 was working on addressing the situation and recalled that the President had held a meeting with the council members on October 25. “Now, we are also faced with the need to speed up resolution of the issues related to the provision of a special military operation and related to the fight against those restrictions in the economic sphere that we have encountered,” Putin said while speaking at the first meeting of the newly formed Coordination Council. In addition, the Russian government has been taking specific measures to replenish its diminishing missile stockpile. For instance, two missile plants have revamped their operations since May significantly. First is the Novator plant that produces missiles for Iskander and Buk systems, Kalibr missiles, and several ship-based missiles.

 

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The plant is said to have received additional funds and has reportedly worked round the clock in three shifts. It is known to produce around 100-120 Kalibr units per year and several dozen cruise missiles for the Iskander system.

Nevertheless, the factory is struggling to increase production volume, as it would require additional engineers, mechanics, and other technical workers. The second is the Votkinsk Plant which manufactures ballistic missiles for the Iskander and Yars system,s and the Bulava ballistic missiles for Russia’s Borei-class nuclear submarines. In 2020, the plant adopted a four-day per week schedule, laying off employees of retirement age and employees of subsidiaries, but in March, it was reported that the company had opened up 500 additional vacancies. The company is said to have increased its production to around 60 missiles from about 50 a year earlier.