The US Army has announced a $1 billion contract to manufacture cannon balls.
According to news agency AFP, the 155 mm diameter shells are fired from the cannon and additional production is being contracted. These shells are widely used in Ukraine in defense against Russia.
According to a statement from the US Army, two companies, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and American Ordnance LLC, are competing to win this $993.7 million contract.
The statement added that the purpose of the contract was to manufacture 12,000 to 20,000 additional shells per month.
The announcement was made on Friday after the US Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative awarded another similar contract to the two companies. The value of this contract is 522 million dollars.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the forces of both sides have used large-scale ammunition against each other.
In November, a US military official said that Russian forces were firing 20,000 artillery rounds on a daily basis.
Ukrainian forces have been firing four to seven thousand artillery shells per day during the war. This is much more than what the arms factories of its Western allies produce in a day.
According to analysts monitoring the situation of the war, the use of artillery decreased during the winter because the supply of weapons to both sides was not the same as before.