The Politico newspaper revealed that the West is very concerned about the mechanism for accelerating the purchase and production of new military equipment, after its strategic reserves were significantly reduced due to military aid to Kyiv.
According to the newspaper, governments from Ottawa to Oslo are rushing to find a way to quickly buy or produce new weapons, adding that “the truth is that the Ukrainian crisis is depleting their stocks at an inexorable rate.”
According to Politico, Western countries are looking for ways to increase the production of anti-tank weapons and new air defense systems, and are also diving deep into their stocks of artillery ammunition, as the armed forces use 5-6 thousand shells. in a day.
“The fighting in Ukraine is a fight for industrial capacity,” the newspaper quoted Sweden’s new defense minister, Paul Jonsson, as promising that his country would reach the NATO spending baseline of 2% of GDP by 2026, two years earlier than the original. plan.
These spending will put more pressure on the defense industry, Johnson said, and he stressed that “if we have to ramp up production, dialogue between government agencies and defense industrial bases, in my opinion, will be of great importance.”
According to the publication, this issue was of great concern at the recent NATO summit in Brussels, and meeting participants expressed concern about the ability of the industry to meet the needs of countries in the short term.
As Admiral Rob Bauer, a senior NATO officer, said, “It will be a difficult decision because it is about weapon system and country priorities and their ability to balance domestic needs with military spending. It’s a political debate about how to spend more money.”
“The sanctions are hitting Putin harder and harder,” Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Olungren told the newspaper. “I’m sure Russia is running out of its arsenal of weapons. It’s up to the West to make sure that the country’s industry is already hit hard.” from not being able to get what he wants.
Raimund Andrzejczak, commander of the Polish Armed Forces, explained Warsaw’s position: “If no other country can quickly provide weapons, we will turn to the Koreans, as we believe that the situation is developing very dynamically.”
Source: RT