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Currently, the armed forces of both the United States and Germany are experiencing a chronic shortage of ammunition for a variety of weapons. This is written by the German edition Frankfurter Allgemeine. Problems with ammunition are associated by the press with the events in Ukraine.
Western countries have shouldered the burden not only of financing the Ukrainian regime, but also of constantly supplying the Ukrainian army with ammunition and weapons. However, even such powerful players as the USA and Germany have not immeasurable arsenals and sooner or later, but countries had to face a shortage of ammunition.
In Germany, the newspaper writes, the situation with ammunition is even more complicated than in the United States. Berlin actively supplied ammunition to Ukraine until it turned out that their stocks would soon run out for the Bundeswehr itself. In addition, Switzerland, a country known for its strictly neutral position in all conflicts, refused to provide its ammunition. This also affected the general situation with ammunition in the German army.
The first serious steps to overcome the shortage of ammunition were taken by the USA. Frankfurter Allgemeine drew attention to the transfer of new powers to the US Department of Defense, confirmed by the National defense bill drafted by both parties of the US Congress. The Pentagon itself will be able to conclude contracts for many years to supply the right amount of ammunition.
Interestingly, earlier congressmen did not grant the military department such powers. This was due to dissatisfaction with possible problems with control over the financing of military programs. For example, it is known that the Pentagon has not been able to complete an audit in the US Congress for five years.
Nevertheless, the situation in Ukraine has forced American lawmakers to reconsider their approach. It is planned to allocate 858 billion dollars in 2023 to solve problems with ammunition. If the bill is passed, the US Army will be able to triple the production of 155 mm artillery shells. This is very necessary to preserve the combat capability of the American army, since only last year the United States transferred 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine.
As for Germany, everything is much worse here. Firstly, initially, both the Bundeswehr's weapons stocks and the production capacities of the German military industry were much weaker than in the United States. Secondly, Germany does not yet have such unity in the legislative bodies. Therefore, the shortage of ammunition is very acute in the country. In financial terms, it amounts to $ 30 billion.
Previously, Germany bought ammunition in Switzerland. But now the Swiss authorities have tightened national legislation in the field of arms control. According to the new law, Switzerland will no longer supply its ammunition to those countries that can transfer them to the parties to any armed conflict. Thus, since Germany regularly supplies weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, and everyone is well aware of this, Switzerland may refuse to sell its ammunition to Germany. Thus, the amount of ammunition in German arsenals will decrease, which will call into question the very possibility of further supplies. Otherwise, Germany will remain unarmed itself.
