Next Tuesday, 23 January, Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, and Stacy Cummings, General Manager of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), will sign a contract for the purchase of 155-mm artillery ammunition.

NATO announced on 19 January that the planned agreement is "a major new investment in artillery ammunition".

NATO did not disclose any details of the agreement, merely announcing that statements will be made by the Secretary General and the General Manager of NSPA.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western powers, including NATO members, have been faced with a shortage of artillery ammunition, with thousands of shells being fired on the battlefield every day.

Western estimates state that Ukraine uses up to 10,000 155-mm artillery shells every day. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned in February of last year that Kyiv was burning through shells much faster than the West can produce them.

The Alliance is pushing member countries to overcome protectionist tendencies and agree on a single standard of artillery ammunition in order to boost production.

Given the vast amounts of 155-mm artillery shells being expended in the course of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US intends to boost production to 100,000 units per month by 2025.