US awards $1 billion contract to boost artillery round production
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The US Army on Friday announced the award of a nearly $1 billion contract to increase production of 155 mm artillery rounds that are being used in large quantities by Ukraine.
General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems and American Ordnance LLC will compete for individual orders of the rounds under the $993.7 million contract, the Army said in a statement.
The aim is to produce between 12,000 and 20,000 additional rounds per month, it added.
The announcement comes after the Army awarded $522 million in orders for the same rounds to two other companies in a deal funded by the Pentagon's Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
Ukraine and Russia have fired huge amounts of artillery munitions at each other since the Russian invasion began almost a year ago.
In November, a US official said Russian forces were firing about 20,000 artillery rounds a day.
Ukraine's rate was between 4,000 and 7,000 rounds per day -- faster than allied Western manufacturers can produce to keep pace.
The rates have plunged since then, as the winter set in and both sides face shortages and conserve ammunition.