Ukraine making weapons 3X our rate
The Danish Prime Minister says Ukraine, at war, is making more than its share of weaponry.
Speaking on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, attended by Business Insider, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that Europe must ramp up production efforts going forward, working with the US to do so.
“We have a problem, friends, if a country at war can produce faster than the rest of us,” she said. “I’m not saying we are at wartime, but we cannot say we are at peacetime anymore. So, we need to change our mindset.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine has ramped up domestic arms production, producing increasing numbers of homemade products such as missiles, howitzers, and drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said that 30% of the military equipment Ukraine used in 2024 was domestically made.
Anyone remember the period before WWII in which we ramped our production by supplying our allies? NATO isn’t there yet.
The widespread use of drones on the battlefield has seen Ukraine become a leader in drone production, with Kyiv saying the country produced more than 1.5 million first-person-view drones in 2024.
Ukraine also said it made 2.5 million mortar and artillery shells from January to November 2024, while the EU said it would make around 2 million artillery shells in 2025.
Mark Rutte, NATO’s Secretary General, has also frequently called on European members of the alliance to boost military spending.
Speaking in Munich, he said the US was “right” to think “we have to step up, we have to spend more.”
He added that both the US and Europe were “not producing nearly enough” and that Russia produces more ammunition in three months than NATO does in a year.
So either Ukraine and Russia are making more than the US and NATO combined. That sounds like we are sitting our collective laurels – or hindsides – while the leaner meaner folks are leaving us in the dirt.
Some countries have already taken big steps toward boosting spending. In 2024, Poland led the alliance in defense spending as a percentage of GDP, with Warsaw investing more than 4% of its economic output in defense.
Lithuania and Estonia have also both pledged to increase their own defense spending to 5% of GDP, saying that while they agreed with Trump’s demands, they were not taking that step solely because of the president but because of Russia’s threat. Business Insider
Great news for NATO to finally realize the wolf is on their doorstep. Might be better if some of the militarily larger members like the UK and Germany would do the same, but I’m not holding my breath waiting.
