The U.S. Army is moving to establish a second production source for barrels for 155mm M777 towed howitzers in response to what it calls “unprecedented demand” from Ukraine. Only one U.S. government-owned and operated arsenal makes the barrels and that facility cannot currently meet a requirement to churn out more than 30 new ones each month. Discussion of the need for more barrels for M777 howitzers was included in a recently released Pentagon budget document dated Dec. 17, 2024, which details several so-called reprogramming actions related to U.S. military assistance to Ukraine.
  • knighthawk0811@lemmy.ml
    2·
    58 minutes ago

    they should have kept using the M198 if the M777 had problems like this. but that’s a 20yo choice now

  • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
    12·
    5 hours ago

    i bet the american military industrial complex will start kissing trump’s ring (if they haven’t already) so that they can continue building after this round of funding expires.

  • freagle@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    8·
    4 hours ago

    This feels solvable for the USA. It makes it feel like the choice to arm Ukraine is deliberately intended to put pressures on the supply chain to find and address gaps.