Gigantic problem for the Russians. They produce less than they consume

Everyone complains about the quality of Russian ammunition: Russian artillerymen and Ukrainian sappers. The newer the shells, the worse they are made. The Kremlin is trying to fill the gap at all costs. But allies also have problems with the low standard of execution.

A video was published on Russian social media in which soldiers are trying to forcibly insert a rocket into the 9K51M Tornado-G launcher. It's not going too easily because the rocket is slightly swollen and they have to use the transport box as a large hammer.

Ukrainian military expert Aleksander Kovalenko notes on his Telegram channel that faulty ammunition may have reached Ukraine from one of its allies. However, he does not exclude the possibility that the shells could have been poorly stored or that there has been a significant drop in quality from Russian factories.

This second option is very likely. Russian soldiers complain that newly produced missiles are much worse in quality than the old ones, produced in the 90s of the 20th century or during the times of the USSR. In the last years of the 20th century, most industrial plants were sold off, and the remaining ones were not modernized.

Ammunition is mostly produced on machines dating back to the USSR, and you can encounter lathes that were made in the Third Reich. However, these are quite worn out and the quality of artillery shell casings leaves much to be desired. The same is happening with more complicated devices used for the production of primers or detonators.

Most of them were replaced in the early 2000s. However, at that time, the Russian Federation was not able to produce devices of the appropriate quality, and Western ones were too expensive. Then, the concept of "import substitution" emerged, which was to launch research programs for their own precision devices.

However, it ended up that Chinese machines were bought and after crossing the border, their own name plates were attached. In this way, the equipment of factories became Russian. The low-quality equipment wore out very quickly and today Russia is having problems with ammunition production.

- There are two types of processes: metal processing, which requires special equipment, which we do not have. The second half of the process is the production of gunpowder and rocket fuel. Everything is based on imported equipment. Good facilities and appropriate ingredients are needed to produce modern gunpowder, which gives better range and is easier to store - writes for "The Insider" Paweł Łuzin, a Russian security specialist.

This means that the missiles currently being produced are of much lower quality than those produced years ago. Meanwhile, stocks of old are already depleted. Luzin notes that the Russian army first experienced a shortage of artillery ammunition twenty years ago during the second war in Chechnya. Then the conclusions were drawn and in the last decade, Moscow was able to organize the production of shells measuring approximately 4.8 and 6 inches.

However, the production rate was very low and after three years, it was decided to refurbish and return almost 3 million old rockets and artillery ammunition of the heaviest calibers to service. Production is still at a low level. According to the report from the state corporation Rostec in 2017, only about eleven thousand rocket projectiles for Grad and Tornado-G systems were delivered.

According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, during the first half of 2023, Russian artillerymen fired approximately 7 million projectiles of various kinds. It would take Russia as long as five years to manufacture such a quantity of new ammunition without considering any sanction limitations.

While the frequency of strikes with precision ammunition could be noticed as early as this spring, the use of artillery ammunition fell significantly towards the end of this summer. And quite noticeably so. According to British and Ukrainian intelligence, whereas last year the Russians fired a maximum of even 60,000 artillery shells per day, at this moment in only a few cases does daily usage exceed 20,000 pieces. The exception is the section under Bachmut and Lyman, where the intensity has dropped slightly.

The Ukrainian intelligence notes that the worst situation is with 152 mm caliber ammunition, of which the stock levels are approximately 30 percent of the total number of shells that the Russians had before the war. However, they do not possess any precision shells in this caliber at all, which is related to the lack of suitable electronic equipment.

- For two months, Russian groups operating in our country have been in maximum ammunition saving mode – said in an interview for "Forbes" Major General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate. - Roughly normal ammunition is currently only used in Bachmut and towards Lyman. They have tried to storm Vuhledar several times and will continue to do so, hence why this location has been added. In all other areas, they have switched to ammunition saving mode.

Ukrainian sappers add that the current percentage of unexploded ordnances is significantly higher than at the beginning of the war and is incomparable to Western ammunition.

Budanow notes that, despite international sanctions, there is a possibility to purchase ammunition abroad. In fact, the Kremlin, in addition to Shaheds, bought about 20,000 rocket artillery shells in Iran. However, they are of lower quality than those produced by the Soviet industry.

Putin met with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, on September 13 in the Far East. At that time, they were supposed to discuss the purchase of ammunition and machines for its production. The Kremlin is also exploring the possibility of making purchases in China. However, they continue to strive for neutrality and do not want to even sell lathes to Russia.

That's why the Russians had to start buying machines using shell companies set up by intelligence. In September, a scandal broke out because the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Agency revealed that German company Spinner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik GmbH's machine tools ended up in Russia through shell companies. The machine ended up at the Sierov Mechanical Plants, which manufacture, among other things, 6-inch ammunition for self-propelled howitzers 2S19 Msta-S and 2S35 Coalition-SW.

According to Ukrainian media, a German company has been violating sanctions for years. In 2021, it supplied machines to RT-Techpriemka, which is part of the Rostech corporation and is involved in, among other things, quality control of materials and semi-finished products for the aviation and arms industries. Now its Turkish representation has sold machine tools to a company that was reportedly set up by Russian intelligence.

Moreover, as epravda.com.ua writes, citing data from the National Anti-Corruption Agency, in 2023 the total value of Spinner equipment supplies to the Russian Federation will already be 10.5 million dollars. That's six times more than in all of 2021.

Germany has distanced itself from the allegations: "If there was a likely delivery, it was made by third parties without our knowledge and engagement" - the company wrote in a statement and invited Ukrainians to a meeting "in order to discuss and fully explain the matter".

Budanow emphasizes that the Russians will still try to purchase ammunition and machines outside the country, because they "produce less than they consume," and the "quality of bullets is very low."