Why Ukrainian army may occasionally receive low-quality ammunition

Oleh Katkov shared his thoughts on Espreso.

"Regarding the issue with defective mines for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, specifically the problem with the expelling charge for the ammunition, I would like to point out that such incidents are a completely natural process. This is especially true when it comes to defects. I don’t know of any production facility that, when scaling up rapidly, hasn’t had some defects in its products. 

For example, if a factory was producing 100 mines per month and now has to produce 1,000 pieces of ammunition per day, defects will naturally occur in some batches. Especially under wartime conditions and considering the working environment of Ukrainian defense enterprises, which are constantly under threat from the enemy. Under these conditions, factories continue to operate and produce explosives. But it’s important to understand that defects are inevitable in such circumstances," explained Katkov.

According to the expert, ammunition is being delivered to the frontline as quickly as possible. It is under these conditions that certain batches of ammunition may have defects.

"Of course, the process of defects can be filtered out, and there are tests for this, for example. However, the longer the testing process takes, the longer it will be before these mines reach the front. It’s possible to revert production to the level of 2022, when testing took a very long time. Now, with only a few weeks between production and the frontline, the chances of defects occurring are higher. They will work to address this, identify the causes, but again, this is a completely normal process, and it will periodically happen," he added.

• Defense Express: Peklo cruise missile combines low cost, high efficiency