US plans to buy 100,000 rounds of artillery ammo from South Korea for Ukraine

The United States means to purchase 100,000 rounds of weapons ammo from South Korean arms makers to supply to Ukraine, a United States authorities stated, as part of a wider effort to discover readily available weapons for the high-intensity fights unfolding in Ukraine.

As part of the offer, the United States will acquire 100,000 rounds of 155mm howitzer ammo, which will then be moved to Ukraine through the United States.

The plan permits South Korea to stay with its public promise that it would not send out deadly help to Ukraine. In a declaration released Friday early morning, the South Korean Defense Ministry stated it had actually not altered its position on shipping weapons to Ukraine, which it thought the “end user” of the ammo is the United States.

” Settlements are continuous in between the United States and Korean business to export ammo, in order to offset the scarcity of 155mm ammo stocks in the United States,” the ministry stated. The Pentagon stated in a declaration it has actually been “in conversation” about “prospective sales” of ammo by the United States from South Korea.

However declarations from South Korea and the United States explain that the offer, which has actually remained in the works for months, has actually not yet been settled. The purchase of such a big supply of weapons ammo is extremely delicate for South Korea, particularly provided the current rocket launches and weapon tests performed by North Korea.

South Korea has actually participated in conferences of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the multi-national group established by the United States to recognize readily available stockpiles of weapons and deliver them to Ukraine. However Seoul has up until now openly declined to send out deadly help to Ukraine, just providing non-lethal and humanitarian help, such as medical products and bulletproof vests.

News of the transfer, initially reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes as the United States has actually alerted that North Korea is covertly providing Russia with weapons shells for the war in Ukraine. The designated transfers from both Pyongyang and Seoul highlight the pressure the war has actually placed on the defense commercial bases of United States and Russia.

” There’s no concern that it’s put pressure on our own stockpiles,” stated Colin Kahl, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, speaking with press reporters at a virtual conference of George Washington University’s Job for Media and National Security. “It’s put pressure on our own commercial base. That’s held true of our allies.”.

Because the early months of the war, weapons has actually been among the crucial weapons supplied to Ukraine in its battle versus Russian forces. The Ukrainian military formerly depended on Soviet-era 152mm weapons pieces, however as that ammunition supply ran dry, the United States and Western nations transitioned them to NATO-standard 155mm howitzers. To date, the United States has actually sent out in 142 of these weapons pieces.

The difficulty has actually been the supply of ammo as the war nears its 9-month mark.

“[The war] has actually exposed that we have work to do to make our defense commercial base more active, more responsive, more durable,” Kahl stated.

The United States has actually sent out almost one million rounds of 155mm ammunition to Ukraine in current months. Recently, a defense authorities stated Ukraine is going through 4,000 to 7,000 rounds of weapons ammo each day, while Russia is shooting around 20,000 rounds.

Although the primary focus is now on air defense systems to secure Ukraine versus Russian UAVs and rockets, weapons stays vital to the battle on the ground.

Authorities stressed that the offer in between the United States and South Korea would not impact the preparedness of either nation.

In a declaration, the Pentagon stated South Korea has a “first-rate defense market which routinely offers to allies and partners, consisting of the United States.”.

The United States “has actually remained in conversations about prospective sales of ammo to the United States by the South Korean non-governmental commercial defense base,” stated Lt. Col. Martin Meiners. The Pentagon would not discuss information of the conversations, consisting of particular numbers or timelines.

In August, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stated he wished to make the nation among the world’s leading weapons providers. Yoon’s objective is to make Seoul the fourth-largest provider worldwide, behind just the United States, Russia and France. Though South Korea has actually wanted to supply weapons to Europe– in July, it signed its biggest arms deal to supply Poland with tanks, weapons, and fighter jets– it has actually up until now declined to offer or provide weapons straight to Ukraine.