Norway is considering the possibility of allowing the supply of ammunition to Ukraine even if their existing stocks fall below a certain minimum level according to regulations. Oslo understands the short-term threat to the country's defense capabilities, but is prepared for it and plans to replenish and expand stocks later.
As reported by the American newsletter Breaking Defense, this decision still needs to be approved by the Norwegian Parliament. But the country's defense minister Bjørn Arild Gram believes that such an approach is fully justified in the current situation. He said, "getting the balance right between present and future planning is going to be a major focus over the coming months."
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It should be noted, increase in production of ammunition and weapons has become a world trend in general. The demand is growing due to the aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine – it brought the West out of the "lethargic sleep" of collective security which had lasted for tens of years.
But just the increase in defense spending itself doesn’t mean those funds will be so easy to apply. The best one can do is literally join the queue of those waiting for their order to be fulfilled. That is why, as noted in the Pentagon, all the western defense industry should ramp up the rates of weapon production and coordinate with each other to efficiently distribute orders.
We expect that Norway's decision to start handing over ammunition even after reaching the "exclusively for its own needs" limit, may well become a trigger for other countries to do so. Especially for those who continue to provide assistance to Ukraine exclusively within the limits of what is considered "surplus" for them and does not affect the current combat capability.
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