Translation: Military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov assures that the Russian Federation receives 122 mm and 152 mm shells, as well as Grad missiles, from North Korea.
The DPRK has been supplying the Russian Federation with weapons for a month and a half, Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, assured NV.
The head of Ukrainian military intelligence made his statement against the backdrop of the visit of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to the Russian Far East and his meeting with Putin. According to Western media estimates, during this rendezvous, Moscow wants to negotiate with Pyongyang on the supply of ammunition to the latter in exchange for technology and oil.
How reliable can the supplied ammunitions be?
And how reliable can the technology to be supplied will be?
Two very shady characters, the least reliable is a gamble.
Artillery shells, especially Russian made, have an extremely long shelf life at around 30 years as long as they are stored in decent conditions. Strangely enough, Russia is thought to have millions of shells still in stock. (Not sure which calibers though.)
Strangely enough, I have never really payed attention too what fuses they have. Regardless, those can be manufacturered, stored and upgraded independently of the shell itself.
Regular ammunition for rifles really does not expire. Military ammunition sometimes uses power that has additional stabilizers so it will not really degrade and become more volatile. In addition to different powders, primers may be crimped and sealed in addition to a tighter crimp around the bullet itself. Just the lack of air exposure works wonders for powder lifespan. Primers are fairly stable as well and can last years in average storage conditions.
In regards to technology reliability, that should be moot as well. Russian war doctrine is about mass so weapon technology doesn’t need to be complicated.
Russia had 20 million art shells before the start of the wat… They used about half of it apparently
Looks like they are making plans to use the second half and setting up supply lines to do it.
What are considered average storage conditions? Seriously asking, I’ve only seen weapons storage in movies, I don’t know WTF it’s supposed to be like. Are wooden crates and cosmoline involved? Help me, I used to be a American Civil War reenactor.
A warehouse with something that vaguely resembles a ventilation system and doesn’t flood on a regular basis. Temperature control is not a huge requirement either.
If it were in a metal ammo box that is mostly water proof would be great as well. No need for perfect environmental controls or anything like that.
Ammo exposed to a humid environment for a long period of time is no bueno. I think brass corrosion is mainly an electrochemical process, so keeping ammo mostly separated would be a nice to have. Coated steel ammo casings might actually be quite a bit more survivable in adverse conditions, now that I think about it.