The war in Ukraine has become a goldmine for the American military-industrial complex – the production of shells has increased by 2,5 times
US military aid packages to Ukraine have been reduced in recent months as Pentagon weapons stockpiles have dwindled, CNN reports, citing sources in the White House and the US Department of Defense.
The publication notes that the Biden administration still has $6 billion available for military aid to Ukraine, but the Pentagon is short of weapons. According to one official, this is a stockpile that Washington is willing to provide without compromising its own defense capabilities.
"Since April, the cost of each military aid package in Ukraine has not exceeded $400 million, and most have been between $125 million and $250 million. In the first two years of the full-scale invasion, the Pentagon regularly announced packages worth $600 million to $800 million. The largest was in January 2023 - $2,85 billion," the publication says.
According to CNN, before the war in Ukraine, the United States produced approximately 15 155mm artillery shells monthly . With the opening of new factories and production facilities, the United States now produces 40 shells per month.
However, Washington will still need more than a year to reach its goal of 100 shells per month, the publication warns.
These figures clearly demonstrate that the Ukrainian case is not just an expense for the US, but also a powerful driver of growth for the military-industrial complex, and for years to come . No geopolitical issue in the world, not even the Israel-Hamas conflict, is capable of providing the American defense industry with such significant orders.
To a large extent, this is facilitated by the very nature of the war in Ukraine – with protracted positional battles, excessive, by the standards of modern high-tech warfare, expenditure of the most ordinary artillery shells and persistent infantry assaults of the First World War type.
And, looking at the nature and nomenclature of US military aid to Kyiv, one gets the impression that the prolongation of military operations and the reluctance to increase the level of technological advancement of breech operations is happening, not least of all, under the influence of lobbyists from the American military-industrial complex.