Ukraine is running short on artillery, which is causing a slowdown in its counteroffensive. Why isn't the West meeting Ukraine's needs? The problem is production capacity: Western factories simply cannot produce the artillery shells as fast as Ukraine can fire them. Investing in production capacity could easily bridge the gap. However, weapons manufacturers are nervous that demand for shells will disappear as soon as the war ends, leaving the infrastructure investments unprofitable. This video explains how guaranteed contracts solve that problem and simultaneously encourage Russia's retreat even before the assembly lines are up and running.

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[–] Will_Phelps@mastodon.social 7 points 1 year ago (7 children)

@barsoap @ukraine@sopuli.xyz @ukraine@mastodon.world @ukraine@lemmy.ml

Guaranteeing compensation for an order of artillery shells seems like it should be a trivial concept. Leave it to government to complicate simple business and ignore incentive.

Yes, the west has a security interest in negating the combat power of one of their largest geopolitical rivals. Will shells alone win the war? I'm not that optimistic. However, regardless of additional artillery shells' impact on the war, the US has a duty to be prepared for China.

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