Since February 2022, Ukraine's defense industry has been working actively to establish and expand domestic production of various types of ammunition to meet the critical needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces and reduce reliance on allied supplies. In particular, over the past two years, Ukraine has managed to set up mortar shell production from scratch.
Although Ukraine has managed to establish and increase production of artillery shells of various calibers, as well as mortar shells, current production rates are still insufficient to meet the army's significant needs, as noted by Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin in an interview with Reuters.
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The article highlights that since February 2022, Ukrainian manufacturers have increased mortar shell production from zero to millions per year. However, as noted by the head of the Ministry of Strategic Industries, Ukraine could produce even more if not for supply chain issues, specifically the critical shortage of components.
"The main problem we face now is with gunpowder and explosives. The amount of explosives that reaches Ukraine determines how many shells we will have," the minister is quoted by the publication
To recall, in early 2023, Ukroboronprom announced the start of serial production of first 82mm and then 120mm mortar shells at facilities in NATO countries. These shells were subsequently issued to Ukrainian Defense Forces units, with reports in April 2023 confirming that the military had received the first batch of OF-843B 120mm high-explosive fragmentation mortar shells.
#Ukraine: Quite soon after reports of Ukroboronprom starting serial production of 120mm mortar bombs in cooperation with a "NATO member", they began to appear at the front.Here are the first photos of Ukrainian OF-843B mortar bombs, made in Batch 1 of 2023, already in combat. pic.twitter.com/a5tsQQboYR— Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) April 15, 2023
In the same year, it was reported that Ukrainian Armor, in cooperation with two NATO member countries, launched production of 120mm mortar shells.
Additionally, the head of the Ministry of Strategic Industries highlighted that one of their main tasks today is to establish serial production of Ukrainian missiles, which may also face supply chain challenges. He did not disclose further details on this.
Earlier, Defense Express discussed what a Ukrainian ballistic missile with a range of 600-700 km could look like and provided some world analogs.
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