The European Union promised Ukraine one million rounds of artillery by March 2024. But as it stands, the bloc has delivered less than a third of that supply. Ammunition manufacturers say the problem starts way before it gets to them.



Kyiv

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

EU struggles with Ukraine ammunition pledge

The challenges of weapons manufacturing may have come as an unpleasant surprise for politicians who promised Ukraine a million rounds of ammunition by next March. It's not so that you can just drive a truck up to a defense company and just tell them how much you want and leave the same day. It's not like that. Norway's Namo is one of the world's leading suppliers of ammunition, with 27 manufacturing facilities across a dozen countries. These steel tubes, still hot from the forging process, will become some of those coveted 155mm shells here at Namo's Ralfes manufacturing facility. But what producers explain is that they can't fill orders they haven't received. And so the responsibility for this dramatic scale-up in output being expected doesn't start here. While the number of contracts for ammunition has increased, that alone isn't enough to boost production to the levels that are needed. There are other obstacles hindering large-scale orders and joint procurement. For example, while NATO countries primarily use 155mm caliber guns and ammunition, there are 14 variations of these artillery shells because each country produces them with slight differences. Some industry leaders are calling for the standardization of defense products, even though these different specifications are seen as favoring manufacturers. But the CEO of Finland's Patria Group, Esa Rautalinko, says those days should be over. The market is very protectionist, not just in Europe, I think it's a global phenomenon. And what the industry needs to realize is that if we are just sub-optimizing our own production capabilities, so things will not change fast enough. If we have different equipment that are not standardized enough, it means that it's a logistical nightmare. NATO's top military official urges more cohesion at the political level, so supplies get to where they're needed at the tactical level. We have to agree that we have to stop doing that, because a soldier in the field is not interested whether the artillery round comes from factory A, B or C in whatever country. They don't care. They just want the ammunition to be able to hit the target. NAMO says it has more than tripled production in some areas over the last two years and it's expanding its facilities. But what happens if demand drops dramatically after the end of the war in Ukraine? NAMO CEO Morten Brantsegg is suggesting 10 to 15 year production contracts to deal with such future uncertainty. I think we have to share the risk, because it's also very important that these defense companies that they are kind of profitable and that we can reinvest in R&D. Brantsegg won't offer a prediction on whether there's any way some 700,000 more rounds of ammunition can be sent to Ukraine by March. He'll only say it will take his company much longer than that, just to fill the orders it already has.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is warning the escalation in hostilities along the Israeli border could widen. The Israeli army has carried out multiple air strikes on frontline villages in some of the fiercest bombardment yet. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah is also stepping up attacks against Israeli military outposts. 

Beirut

Israel-Gaza War

Violence escalates between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah

The Federal Government has announced its new migration strategy, which plans to reduce migrant intake by raising requirements for international students and some workers to get a visa, including minimum English language requirements.

Canberra

Government announces crackdown on migration

As Israeli troops move closer to the centre of Khan Younis, Gaza, and residents attempt to find safety, the UN warns that half of Gaza’s population is starving.



Sderot

More people flee Gaza as UN warns of mass starvation

In the final days of COP28, finding greener ways to produce clean drinking water is a big topic of conversation, but the pressure is on for an official statement about fossil fuels.

Dubai

Climate Crisis

Drinking water, fossil fuels lead COP28 agenda in final days

Residents as far south as Mackay are being warned to brace for damaging winds as Cyclone Jasper continues to track toward the coast. It's expected to cross as a Category Two on Wednesday.

Mackay

North Queensland residents prepare for Cyclone Jasper landfall

The competition to follow Annastacia Palaszczuk as Queensland Premier is heating up after her announcement that she's retiring from politics at the end of this week. 

Brisbane

Race to replace Queensland Premier heats up

Israeli tanks battled their way to the centre of Khan Younis in a major new push into the heart of the main city in the southern Gaza Strip which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians who fled other parts of the enclave. 

Israeli tanks reach center of Khan Younis

Three Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been arrested, just before voting began in a "patriots only" district election that has marginalised formerly popular opposition figures in the city amid a national security clampdown.

Shenzhen

Hong Kong activists arrested in city's 'birdcage' election

Foreign investors who leave their homes vacant will be slugged with a six-fold increase to penalties as the Federal Government seeks to free up more housing stock.

Foreign investors to be penalised for leaving homes vacant

The Federal Government is set to unveil a major new migration strategy tomorrow that aims to dramatically cut Australia's intake.

Government plans to 'drastically cut' migration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease, making one of them the first treatment in the United States based on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing technology.

Maryland

US approves two gene therapies for sickle cell disease

Israel bombing of the Gaza Strip has intensified in an expanded phase of its war against Hamas. This is after the United States wielded its U.N. Security Council veto to shield its ally from a global demand for a ceasefire.

Jerusalem

Intensified fighting in Gaza as U.S. vetoes ceasefire

EU lawmakers and policymakers have reached a deal on rules regulating the use of artificial intelligence, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on the X social platform.

Brussels

Rise of AI

EU reaches landmark deal to regulate AI threat

The U.S. has vetoed an emergency resolution at the UN security council — triggered by the secretary-general with a rarely-used power to force a vote — for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to allow more aid into the area.

New York

United States vetoes UN vote on immediate Gaza ceasefire

Israel's military says it has struck 450 targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, roughly double the figure it's typically reported since the end of the truce with Hamas. It marks a new expansion of the war.

Israel ramps up airstrikes on Gaza targets amid new phase

Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris 2024 Olympics can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems at the event next year, the International Olympic Committee has ruled.

Paris

IOC rules Russian athletes can compete at Paris Olympics

Cyclone preparations are underway in north Queensland. Communities in North Queensland are bracing for Category Four Jasper to approach mainland Queensland by mid-next week.

Townsville City

North Queensland braces for Category Four cyclone

The Hamas-run health ministry reported 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City on Friday, and dozens more in Jabalia and the main southern city of Khan Yunis. So far, the fighting in the Palestinian enclave has left 17,487 people dead, according to the ministry's latest published figures. 

Hamas health ministry says over 17,000 dead in Gaza

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday told soldiers who had fought in Ukraine that he would run for the top job again in the 2024 election - a move that will allow the former KGB spy to stay in power until at least 2030. 

Moscow

Russia's Putin tells soldiers he will run for president again

Ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government's declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

Washington

U.S criticizes Israel over Gaza civilian toll

2023 has been declared the hottest year in recorded history a month earlier than scientists would usually confirm the evidence. Temperatures are now nudging one and a half degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, giving the UN climate talks in Dubai a heightened sense of priority.

Council of the City of Sydney

Scientists confirm 2023 is the hottest year on record

The Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, indicting him for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. 

Delaware

Hunter Biden hit with new charges for tax evasion

Two months since the initial Hamas attack on southern Israel, doctors in Gaza are treating many times the number of patients they are equipped to handle, and a UN official says there is no safe place for humanitarian operations to continue.

Israel pushes deeper south as war with Hamas passes 2 months

Emergency authorities are on alert as severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper intensifies in the Coral Sea. The category four system is continuing its gradual march towards the North Queensland coast, but its exact path remains uncertain.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper strengthens off Queensland coast

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece and met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday. The two leaders agreed to reboot their relations, establishing a roadmap designed to usher in a new era of closer ties between the two NATO allies but historical foes. 

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Ukraine Invasion