NATO officials are urging member states to overcome their protectionist reflexes and agree on a single type of 155mm artillery shell, as Russia produces more such munitions than the alliance, Reuters reports.

Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO’s military committee, has urged member states to abandon protection for their national arms manufacturers, comparing their current business model to that of companies that make printers.

“The manufacturer will get rich not because of the printers they make, but because of the ink,” he told Reuters in an interview.

“If you make an artillery round that only fits the weapon you make, you’re forcing users to buy your ammunition,” he explains.

The admiral says that the price of producing one artillery projectile has increased in NATO countries to 8,000 euros, compared to 2,000 euros before the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has dramatically increased its military production

Bauer’s comments came after The New York Times reported last month, citing several Western and Ukrainian officials, that Russia had produced more artillery shells than all NATO member states combined.

This situation is partly due to the fact that the cost of production in Russia is much lower than in Western countries, due to the fact that Moscow sacrifices the safety and quality of workers in order to produce weapons more cheaply.

Western countries are scrambling to ramp up production as Ukrainian forces fire off thousands of rounds each day, depleting NATO’s stockpiles faster than they can be replaced.

Although NATO has a standard artillery ammunition, implementation of the standard is voluntary and many countries have chosen to ignore it, leading to market fragmentation and disruption of supply flows.

Bauer says the alliance’s 14 member nations have reserved the right to deviate from the standard, meaning the alliance’s armed forces have 14 different types of 155mm ammunition.

The problem of NATO after the Cold War

The admiral explains the situation by the fact that the arms market has shrunk dramatically since the end of the Cold War, when NATO countries spent 3 to 6 percent of their GDP on the armed forces.

“The number of buyers decreased, the amount of money decreased, so everyone was protecting their industry,” Bauer says. He adds that, by contrast, during the Cold War, “everyone got a piece of the pie.”

Bauer says that, given that the alliance will have to restock after the military aid sent to Ukraine, now is the time to all adopt the same standards for ammunition and other military equipment.

“If you look at the soldier’s position on the battlefield, he wants interoperability because he wants a 155mm box for artillery ammunition. And he doesn’t care who made them, as long as they approach and shoot straight,” the NATO official claims.

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