Ukraine has ordered a record shipment of the most scarce shells from six companies

Ukraine has contracted the largest-ever batch of 155mm long-range artillery rounds for the needs of the Defense Forces. The procurement was carried out by the Defense Procurement Agency of the State Logistics Operator, and six manufacturers were selected as winners of the tender procedures, with whom contracts have already been signed. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced this on his Telegram channel. Thanks to transparent terms and competition, the country managed to save 16% of the initial amount—amounting to billions of hryvnias—and use those funds to purchase tens of thousands more rounds of ammunition.

The minister identified the next step in reforming the defense sector as scaling up similar competitive procedures for the procurement of FPV, mid-strike, and deep-strike drones. As early as this summer, the defense ministry plans to move to tenders in all possible areas of military support to establish a weapons procurement system based on uniform rules. The new approach will minimize the human factor, enhance accountability, distribute large orders among several suppliers, and conduct part of the procedures in the Prozorro electronic system while addressing all security risks for businesses.

The British Army will upgrade its artillery fleet under a defense contract worth nearly €1.15 billion for the supply of 72 RCH 155 remote-controlled howitzers. The new systems are intended to replace the AS90 artillery, part of which was previously transferred to Ukraine.

In France, successful tests were conducted on new rockets that could form the basis of a French counterpart to the HIMARS system. This refers to the FLP-t 150 rocket, which is being developed by Thales and ArianeGroup. It is intended to replace the obsolete M270 LRU multiple launch rocket systems.