Dhe Bundeswehr has a serious shortage of artillery ammunition following earlier austerity measures and military aid to Ukraine. He reports that „Spiegel“. The news magazine quoted documents from the Federal Ministry of Finance as saying that “the current stock of explosive projectiles in 155 mm caliber is around 20,000 pieces”.
Due to current NATO requirements, however, the Bundeswehr must have a stock of around 230,000 pieces of the ammunition type by 2031. An accelerated purchase of 155 millimeter bullets is “absolutely necessary”. Several federal governments had not filled long-known gaps in inventories of various ammunition types. Military aid to Ukraine has exacerbated this shortage.
According to a federal government list, 23,500 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition and other 155 mm precision ammunition were delivered from industry stocks. A further 26,350 rounds of artillery ammunition in caliber 155 mm from industry stocks for the Ukraine are currently “in preparation/implementation”.
According to “Spiegel” information, the Ministry of Defense is planning to submit nine contracts for the accelerated purchase of artillery and tank ammunition to the budget committee of the Bundestag before the parliamentary summer recess. Accordingly, on the one hand, more ammunition than previously planned is to be retrieved from existing framework agreements with industry. For example, companies should Rheinmetall and Diehl will supply more artillery ammunition for the Bundeswehr in the coming years.
However, new framework agreements are also planned. According to confidential papers for the budget committee, the “earlier procurement is due to the changed security situation” and serves “the accelerated growth of the Bundeswehr’s own stocks”.
The planned ammunition contracts also contain, for the first time, what is known as a supply clause in the event of a crisis or war. In this way, the Bundeswehr wants to ensure its own supply of armaments if Germany’s “territorial security or alliance obligation” is at risk. In this case, the industry is obliged in the contracts to accelerate its own production as much as possible. As an example, the contract states that the relevant factories should run 24 hours a day in the event of a crisis.
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