Ukraine was supposed to receive a certain amount of ammunition from Japan, but the available shells did not fit into the framework of the use of weapons provided by Western partners to Kyiv.
What is known about the reasons for the ammo aid disruption to Ukraine from Japan
As the journalists of the publication assume, the reason was the limited compatibility of the weapons of different countries, although, within the framework of NATO, ammunition should have been standardized and unified.
At the end of 2023, the Japanese government announced the relaxation of restrictions on arms exports.
This allowed Japan to start supplying ammunition to Great Britain, and they could be transferred to Ukraine from there.
However, before signing the agreement, the British military conducted tests of Japanese shells produced by the Komatsu company under license from the British BAE System and decided to abandon their use.
At the same time, as the journalists of the publication note, none of the parties explained what went wrong.
What is the problem of Western partners with the ammo provision to Ukraine
However, the authors of the material note that the lack of compatibility between ammunition and guns of different types from different manufacturers is among the key problems of the Western allies in preparing aid to Ukraine.
It is noted that the 155-millimetre projectile was distributed as an artillery standard in NATO countries and their allied states in other regions of the world.
This allowed the allied countries to use each other's weapons and ammunition. In practice, they are not always compatible.
Gunpowder and projectile combinations are not always interchangeable, explains Mark Kancian, a former artillery officer in the US Marine Corps who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
