Inside America's only giant gun barrel factory arming Ukraine

[Rogue Valley]

Inside America's only giant gun barrel factory arming Ukraine

The US has shipped hundreds of howitzers to Ukraine, like the M777. But just one factory makes barrels for them, and it's more than 200 years old.

www.businessinsider.com

The US has shipped hundreds of howitzers to Ukraine, like the M777. But just one factory makes barrels for them, and it's more than 200 years old.

Video at the link above.

 

[gman]

We’re screwed

 

[redbeer]

Yes, it's a bad situation where not only shortage of the barrels but also shortage of the 155mm Howitzer shell. A situation which was warned, but ignored for many years has now put us in dire straits when it comes to artillery usage.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ukraine-crisis-artillery/

With what we've seen on the battlefields of Ukraine and the ever growing and adaption of drones, I wonder what they have in plans for more protection of the artillery positions and personnel. I've seen those hard-wired drones which cannot be jammed, so if they're close enough it's hard if not impossible to protect artillery positions.

Should we become more involved in producing more land based war machines such as the Howitzer, instead of spending billions and billions on fighter jets? Seems best to get the fundamentals of warfare produced in massive quantities for these are essential in protecting troops on the ground if and when needed. Learning from Ukraine, it seems absolute necessary.

 

[CaughtInThe]

Drones

 

[Rogue Valley]

Any war or proxy-war with Russia or North Korea will feature artillery.

The US is getting better at manufacturing artillery shells, but artillery barrels are another matter entirely.

Russia has at least a 8:1 disparity in arty shells. This means the Ukrainians must fire at a greater rate to hold their own.

This heats up and warps the gun barrels. The Ukies know how to swap out arty gun barrels right in the field, but procuring new/refurbished barrels has been a longstanding problem.

Does the US Congress realize how precarious this problem is for the US? Are they doing anything about it?

 

[Oozlefinch]

The US has shipped hundreds of howitzers to Ukraine, like the M777. But just one factory makes barrels for them, and it's more than 200 years old.

The US has around 700 of them, a significant number in storage. And that is even after the 100 or so sent to Ukraine. The majority of M777 were actually sent from the UK. And that is where they will get their spare barrels, from BAE systems, the company that makes most of the M777 howitzers.

Which has 2 factories making them. In case you did not know, that is actually a UK gun the US adopted.

And what in the hell does the age even matter? Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is over 225 years old, so what? The oldest drydock is 120 years old, but they still service modern state of the art ships in it. Sorry, but pointing out the age of a factory is the most pointless statement to even make. Hell, Boeing still makes satellites in the old Nash Motors factory, built in 1946. And every M1 Abrams and many other armored vehicles were made at the Lima Plant, built in 1942. What in the hell the age of the factory matters, I have absolutely no idea.

And how many spare barrels do we need at any one time? Do you honestly think that there are not hundreds of them in reserve already?