Inside the US arms factory churning out shells for Ukraine’s war effort | Dispatch

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Just off the President Biden Expressway in Scranton, Pennsylvania - the town where Joe Biden was born - a military production effort not seen since the Korean War is underway.

Inside a sprawling 500,000 sq ft brick former locomotive factory, giant robots toil around the clock, plucking newly forged 155mm artillery shells out of a 2,000-degree furnace.

In the coming weeks and months, these shells will be fired from hundreds of howitzers toward Vladimir Putin’s forces during Kyiv’s spring counter-offensive.

But Ukrainian forces are already burning through ammunition much faster than the US and Nato can make it, with troops fighting the Russians in Bakhmut among those facing shortages.

At the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, the urgency with which America is surging production in an attempt to keep pace is palpable.

The massive plant produces just over 11,000 155mm shells every month, the vast majority of the total US monthly production of 14,000.

However, the Ukrainian Army is already using an average of 7,700 155mm shells each day, sparking fears that even the might of the US defence industry will not be enough to keep its guns from falling silent.

In total, the US has already sent Kyiv over a million 155mm shells since the invasion on Feb 24, 2022, depleting its own stockpiles.

The Pentagon is pumping $120 million (£96 million) into the Scranton plant as it aims to double America’s overall production of 155mm shells by the end of this year and increase it by 500 per cent in five years.

On the humming factory floor, there is fire and forging going on everywhere.

“That robot is going 24 hours a day,” Rich Hansen, who oversees operations, told The Telegraph, as a giant contraption with claws pulled a glowing red hot shell from the fire.

“If you make a mistake at 2,000 degrees, that’s catastrophic,” he said.

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#Ukraine #USA #Russia
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From one factory alone that's not bad. The forges of the arsenal of democracy are lit again. Hi from Greece.

kreb
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Let’s go boys! Proud of our factory workers!

Tmb
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Keep up the good work there in Pennsylvania. Many Ukrainian surnames over there as well. Settled before the 1890's, helping their ancestral home in the best way now.

yellowtomato
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These shells are for the US Army, to replace the old shells which have been sent overseas, we can build factories that make these 10X faster.

paulbedichek
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That's like 5 shells being used every minute

lazybob
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Damn, they really be using robots in these factories

shakeandbake
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Working for freedom and independence once again. Respect to the hard working people.

phbrinsden
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Literally that’s what we call ‘The Arsenal of Democracy’🫡

고영환-yi
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Thank God for Biden United Europe and made a stand against Putler.

kreb
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Have any of the Western allies rampt up their ammunition production? How many contracts have been signed between the governments of Germany, France, Spain and Italy and their respective arms industries? Could The Telegraph show us factories outside the U.S. that are actually currently producing resupplies for the Ukrainean war effort?

markhamburger
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Went from steaks and shrimp to ramen and the sheep applaud it

brianmcfarland
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These are 155mm shells which are used in NATO heavy artillery but not so much (yet) by Ukraine. The Soviet sizes are different.

abrahamdozer
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Больше оружия и боеприпасов Украине!!! Вместе победим русский фашизм!!!

hi.
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Russia has about couple hundred of these factories, too little to late.

waynesilva
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This is in Philadelphia, PA right on the port by PHL airport.

KateKosmo
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What about shells for our own military??

timm
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Russia started the war with a staggering advantage over Ukraine in artillery pieces and with almost infinite stockpiles of the Soviet era shells. At the peak of the summer Russian offensive of 2022 Russian military shot on average 20 thousand shells every day, basically reducing every Ukrainian defensive position and cities to rubble.

Ukraine still can't match those numbers, but it got the advantage of precision ammunition with the procurement of M777 supplied by the Western allies. And that's one of the key reasons Russia can't make any significant advances since last summer.

leobender
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I really see it from the good side. They are used for a good purpose. (to weaken Russia). They don't sit in warehouses where the just cost and rust. And the new shells that have to be produced create jobs.

Watcher-tsql
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Keep up the good work boys! Slava Ukraine!

markberryhill
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Europe and other NATO allies, and non, must step up the production. 🇺🇦🇺🇦SLAVA UKRAINI 🇺🇦🇺🇦

raimobrunning