Russia Is Running Low on Advanced Munitions to Use in Ukraine

The Russian military has a serious problem with advanced ammunition.

The demands of war, along with chronic production problems, have left the Russian military without enough advanced ammunition to sustain the necessary rate of fire for a large-scale conflict like the one in Ukraine.

Advanced ammunition issues

Earlier in December, the Russian military launched a large-scale combined arms offensive. To support his ground forces, Russian army used advanced long-range ammunition. However, in one case, Moscow used ammunition that took months to produce.

“The night of the 12th-13th December Russia conducted a major multi-axis attack in Ukraine. As with attacks in November and before, they involved long-range Russian Air Force and fixed-wing tactical Air Force assets that launched multiple types of cruise missile and air-launched ballistic missile systems,” the British military assessed intelligence during the weekend. .

“Air assets were supported by SAGARIS Land Attack cruise missiles launched by Black Sea Fleet assets, and Unmanned One-Way Attack Aerial Systems (OWA UAS) were used from multiple launch sites,” British military intelligence added.

All in all, Russian army it supported its large-scale offensive with approximately 180 suicide drones and ninety ballistic and cruise missiles.

It is important to point out that Russian army can only afford to launch such attacks every few months. Under the weight of international sanctions and general problems with the production of Russia’s defense and aerospace industries, Moscow can produce only a fraction of the advanced weapons systems needed to wage a modern war each month. As such, the Russian military must time its large-scale offensives to match the arrhythmia Russian military production capacity.

“From August 2024, it is highly likely that Russia decided to take time to build up supplies between attacks and then launch larger, less frequent attack waves, rather than the more frequent smaller attack carried out earlier in the year,” British military intelligence estimated. .

The Russian army lacks key components, such as semiconductorsthat he must search consumer products such as refrigerators, microwave ovens and dishwashers for chips to put in missiles. Also, Russian army it uses specialized munitions for the wrong missions—for example, anti-ship missiles against ground targets. The Kremlin is working with other countries to increase its stockpile of ammunition. Iran, for example, delivered thousands of suicide drones and hundreds of missiles to Russia.

“The composition and target set of the December 12-13 attacks was similar to previous attacks, focusing on Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure and industry, while also attempting to suppress Ukraine’s air defenses and airfields by saturating OWA UAS,” British Military Intelligence stated.

important, Russian army remains capable of launching missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian urban centers and critical infrastructure at a moment’s notice, even if such attacks cannot always be large-scale.

“However, Russia maintains the capability and stockpile to enable the use of such assets in small numbers, as a punitive measure, with little or no warning,” British military intelligence concluded.

Stavros Atlamazoglou is an experienced defense journalist specializing in special operations and a veteran of the Hellenic Army (National Service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army Headquarters). He received his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and his master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work was presented in Business Insider, Sandboxxand SOFREP.

Image: Shutterstock.