The United States has announced contracts worth $522 million with two companies to produce artillery ammunition for Ukraine.

The order was awarded to Northrop Grumman Systems and Global Military Products.

RFE/RL reported this with reference to the AFP.

The new purchase order comes amid fears that Ukrainian forces are quickly running out of ammunition.

The deliveries should start in March this year. The contracts are funded by the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

As previously reported, the Pentagon plans to increase artillery projectile production by 500 percent over two years, ramping up conventional ammunition production to levels not seen since the Korean War.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the U.S. capabilities produced approximately 14,400 unguided projectiles a month.

This was enough to cover the needs of the American military. However, the need to supply Ukraine prompted Pentagon leaders to triple production plans in September and then double them again in January so that 90,000 or more shells would be produced per month.

It is currently known that the United States has shipped over a million artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

At the same time, NATO countries will ramp up the industrial production of weapons and ammunition.

New weapons are necessary to replenish the stocks in the arsenals of the Alliance countries and further assist Ukraine in the war with Russia.

According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Russia’s war with Ukraine is depleting the Alliance’s stockpiles, as the level of ammunition used by the Defense Forces of Ukraine is significantly higher than the level of production.

Stoltenberg stated that NATO has just completed a review of munitions stockpiles and intends to increase them through the NATO Defence Planning Process.