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Home Front: Politix
US military believes Ukraine is wasting ammo – analyst
2023-08-29
Posted by:Grom the Kindly

#11  13.6 shells fired per casualty for normal 155 vs. 1.6 shells of cluster 155 per casualty.

Save ammo, save barrels.

See a one hour slide show from Perun for more details.
Posted by: DarthVader   2023-08-29 22:15  

#10  indicted -> unindicted
Posted by: Enver Slager8035   2023-08-29 21:35  

#9  The source: WAPO fiction author and indicted Russia collusion secret documents leaker David Ingatius
American commanders have long believed that the Ukrainians waste artillery fire in crushing barrages that emulate Soviet tactics. By one U.S. estimate, the Ukrainians have fired about 2 million rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition since the war began, nearly exhausting Western stockpiles. U.S. officials urge Ukraine instead to weight its artillery fires toward the most important targets and use them to advance quickly toward their objectives.

Pentagon officials have also urged Ukraine to rely less on drones for battlefield awareness and more on ground reconnaissance forces, which can assess Russian positions better. And they have pressed Kyiv to give junior officers more latitude to exploit opportunities along the sprawling front. On all these points, U.S. officials believe the Ukrainians are responding positively. But the discussion has been prickly in recent weeks.

As Biden administration officials assess the likelihood that the war will continue into next year and perhaps beyond, they’re considering several important new augmentations of Western support. There’s growing backing in Washington for providing rocket-launched cluster munitions, for example, which could strike deeper than the artillery-fired versions the United States began supplying last month.


Oops, more cluster munitions for Ukraine. There are in inventory hundreds of thousands of MLRS cluster rockets that will never be used by the US and will have to de disposed. Not to mention 7.5 million 155mm cluster shell artillery rounds in inventory.
Posted by: Enver Slager8035   2023-08-29 21:34  

#8  Well, as a grunt I think the only wasted ammo is the stuff you didn't shoot to cover a buddy and he got wasted.

Ammo expenditure is always 10x what they predict in peacetime. Always.
Posted by: DarthVader   2023-08-29 21:31  

#7  Guys at the staff level always think the line troops waste ammo.
The line grunts think, 'I had to carry this crap out here, why should I carry it back?'
Posted by: ed in texas   2023-08-29 20:27  

#6  ^Well not all of it are sold or used.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective   2023-08-29 11:13  

#5  ^Don't you mean "selling it abroad"?
Posted by: Grom the Reflective   2023-08-29 11:03  

#4  “Use up the Irish. Arrows cost money, the dead cost nothing.”--King Edward I (dialog from Braveheart)
...Bean counters never have to put their precious hides at the tip of the spear.
Posted by: magpie   2023-08-29 10:20  

#3  Ukrainian forces have fired some 2 million rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition

Why do I have a sense of cache and hoarding rather than expending?
Posted by: Skidmark   2023-08-29 10:20  

#2  ^Not a glorious culmination of 20+ years of NATO's Drang nach Osten?
Posted by: Grom the Reflective   2023-08-29 10:13  

#1  It's not just the ordnance, the entire Ukraine effort is a tragic waste.
Posted by: Besoeker   2023-08-29 08:43  

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