Germany boosts Ukrainian forces with artillery and advanced munitions

Ukrainians from Germany received one million rounds of small arms ammunition and tens of thousands of 155 mm artillery shells. Here is what could have gone to Ukraine.

Germany supplied Ukraine with 61,000 155 mm artillery shells, which, depending on the intensity of the fighting and shell usage, will last 10 to 20 days. It may not seem like much, but considering the continuous nature of the aid and the involvement of other countries, Ukraine has and will have enough to fight in the coming months.

In Germany, many entities produce small arms ammunition, with more well-known ones including RWS and MEN. Ukraine most likely received mostly NATO 7.62x51 mm and NATO 5.56x45 mm ammunition. These are used by, for example, universal machine guns MG3 or the C.G. Haenel MK556 carbines, which have had poor performance in Germany and Polish police forces.

Meanwhile, artillery shells will mostly be the simplest DM121 shells with a range of up to 19 miles (30 kilometres) when using artillery systems with barrel lengths of 52 calibres, such as the Polish Krab or the German RCH 155. These are unguided shells, but Rheinmetall boasted that 85% of these shells hit targets the size of a football field when fired at maximum range.

Structurally, these shells are steel castings filled with an 8.8 kilogram (19-pound) charge of TNT or another explosive material and fitted with a simple impact fuse on the top.

The second, slightly less common and more expensive solution is the M1711A1 shells with a so-called gas generator. This is located at the bottom of the shell and generates gases that do not serve as propulsion but rather reduce the base drag of the shell. As a result, while maintaining an identical TNT charge as the simplest shells, the range increases by about 30% to 25 miles (40 kilometres).

Ukraine received the fewest very advanced self-guided SMArt 155 or guided sub-calibre Vulcano 155 GLR shells. The former have a range of up to 17 miles (28 kilometres) and contain two anti-armour submunitions with self-guiding EFP heads.

After being fired, the shell releases two submunitions over the designated area. These submunitions are equipped with a set of sensors (radar and thermal imaging heads) that scan the area for military targets (e.g., tanks, and self-propelled artillery) while descending on parachutes. Upon identifying targets, they descend over them and detonate above them, attacking the weakest upper armour. Crew members of only a few PzH-2000 self-propelled howitzers destroyed dozens of Russian armoured equipment located many miles behind the front line with their help.

The second means of attack is the Vulcano 155 GLR shells, distinguished by a significantly greater range of up to 50 miles (80 kilometres). This was achieved by using a sub-calibre projectile, which is smaller in diameter than the barrel's calibre, placed in a discardable sabot after firing.

This shell is characterised by much better aerodynamics and moves faster, translating into a greater range. The downside, however, is a much smaller standard TNT charge, but this has been addressed with a special warhead that can detonate in three modes and with high-hitting precision.

Similar to the Excalibur, the INS has a tandem of GPS and INS navigation, which theoretically provides a circular error probable (CEP) not exceeding 16 feet (5 metres). Unfortunately, the Russians have learned to jam satellite navigation, but this is not a problem for these shells.

An optional laser-homing head can be mounted on them, providing hitting precision below 10 feet (three metres) in any condition. However, such firing requires an observer or a drone cooperating with the self-propelled howitzer, illuminating the target until the moment of impact.