Major arms manufacturer Northrop Grumman to produce ammunition in Ukraine

The American military-industrial company Northrop Grumman plans to build an enterprise for the production of medium-caliber ammunition on the territory of Ukraine.

Breaking Defense newspaper reported this with reference to Northrop Grumman International Business Director Dave Bartell.

Bartell said about the company's plans to create an ammunition production enterprise in Ukraine during a conversation with Stanley Brown, the State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary for the bureau of political-military affairs, at the Eurosatory 2024 arms show in Paris.

“We’ve been working, as you know, in Ukraine to produce medium [caliber munitions]. That’s our first project that’s paid for with Ukrainian dollars. We are looking to expand that into tank ammo, 155 mm, others as we find innovative processes,” said Bartell.

Bartell did not elaborate on the joint production plan, and Northrop Grumman declined to comment for the Breaking Defense article.

During the conversation, Bartell and Brown mentioned that the Ukrainian government is investing USD 2 billion in the defense industry. This became a key factor for Northrop Grumman in making the decision to build an enterprise on the territory of Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian portal Defense Express, the category of medium-caliber ammunition includes shells for automatic guns of calibers 20x102, 30x113, 30x173, 40x180 and 50x228 millimeters.

These are the M61 Vulcan, M230, Mk44 and XM913 guns used in aviation and ground military equipment.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on June 7, 2024, it became known that the Franco-German arms manufacturer KNDS (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Nexter Defense Systems) announced the creation of its subsidiary in Ukraine.

We also reported that the German defense concern Rheinmetall intends to build four weapons production plants in Ukraine.