Armes from all over the world have come to the same conclusion after watching Russia’s wider conflict with Ukraine: Current war is primarily an artillery warfare, or as Stalin once said, weaponry is the” God of War.” For both, there is plenty of weapons for both, and more gunners and rocket launchers are required.
The European army might be the best illustration of this tenacity in using artillery power. The Bundeswehr has a bold plan to increase its arsenal of ordnance from currently 121 self-propelled howitzers and 36 spacecraft missiles to 289 self-propelled howitzers and 76 rocket launchers by 2035.
Despite its ambitions, the European artillery plan serves as an example of how few artillery are present in the forces of the biggest European power. Sure, a power of 365 artillery parts is better than a power of just 157 artillery items. But 365 is still too some when Germany’s biggest possible rival, Russia, deploys dozens of mortars and missiles.
Yes, it’s doubtful that Germany will start a area battle on its own. It almost certainly would engage in combat as a member of the wider Nato empire. However, virtually all NATO nations have too little artillery. And the majority of them are frantically trying to increase their arsenal of artillery as quickly as they can in order to match Russia’s present firepower.
As Russia’s war on Ukraine grew to a full-fledged force in February 2022, the Russian troops deployed around 4, 000 rocket launchers and towed, self-propelled canitzers. Around a thousand self-propelled and pulled howitzers and rockets were used by the Russian troops.
These weapons and launchers spewed ahead with surprising force as both sides fired hundreds of thousands of rockets and millions of shells each year. In 28 months of hard fighting, the Russians have lost no fewer than 1, 350 artillery items. The Ukrainians have lost at least 500.  ,
Both sides have made excellent these loss through innovative creation, by restoring ancient guns and launchers from backup and, in Ukraine’s situation, by acquiring them from abroad. Both sides provide munitions that they themselves produce, as well as extra ammunition that foreign allies can buy.
The great range of these “fires”, to use a military phrase, startled the dead Bundeswehr into action. The German troops had cut its artillery to the spine as a cost-saving strategy since the Cold War’s finish. By 2022, the Germans was build at most 121 Pzh 2000 personal- propelled howitzers and 36 MARS II rocket launchers, over from a Cold War peak strength of a thousand or so great guns and launchers.
Against the clear demands of a modern mechanised battle, the Bundeswehr’s 157 present artillery pieces are hilariously limited. The Russian army loses, in six months, as many howitzers and rocket launchers as today’s German army has in its entire arsenal.
The planned expansion mitigates but does n’t totally solve this problem. A few dozen Pzh 2000 tracked howitzers that are still in use are being restored by the Germans, and add dozens more brand-new RCH- 155 wheeled howitzers to this list. They intend to buy a new wheeled launcher, presumably the same Israeli-designed PULS models Denmark and The Netherlands are purchasing to bolster their own armies, in addition to their 33 MARS II tracked launchers.
By the middle of the 2030s, Berlin’s army should be able to recover roughly half the artillery firepower it had at the end of the Cold War. It’s important to note that Germany is balancing its artillery initiatives by growing its own corps and sending used or newly constructed howitzers and launchers to Ukraine, which are currently around 90.
A separate issue is whether the Germans can have enough ammunition to keep their growing arsenal of big guns and launchers firing through a potentially long conflict.
German arms-maker Rheinmetall is expanding its ammunition production to meet growing domestic demand and satisfy Ukraine’s unquenchable need for ammunition. But the goal, by 2027, is for Rheinmetall to produce just 1.1 million of the most important 155- millimeter shells every year.
That’s only slightly more shells than Ukraine fired at the lowest point in its own ammunition supply between the fall of 2023 and this spring, at an annualized rate.
The Germans are building up their artillery. But can they build up their ammo stockpile, too?
The first article on The Telegraph: The Germans are worshiping the God of War once more first appeared.
