In the 80s of the 20th century, the protracted Iran-Iraq war caused China's military factories to receive a large number of orders from Iran and Iraq, and this grand occasion allowed China to earn back a total of more than 13 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves in those eight years. Time has passed, and who would have thought that the history of supplying ammunition to both camps at the same time would repeat itself. The supplier is still a "mysterious eastern power".
According to foreign media, in the past 6 months, in order to seek a large amount of financial support, Russia has exported a large amount of energy. India, which imports a lot of oil, said it currently has no dollars and can only pay in rupees. For Russia, although the difference between the rupee and the ruble is only "one word", what is the difference between it and waste paper? It was simply bartered for $4 billion worth of artillery shells in exchange for oil.
The stereotype left by India's military-industrial prowess is bizarre. Although the summary that "12 MiG-21 fighters can be assembled from the parts of 13 MiG-13 fighters" is a joke, the real situation is not much better. The quality of ammunition produced by the Indian military industry is notoriously good, and there have been more than one accidents with bore chambers that resulted in casualties. In other words, India's weapons and equipment are actually imported and not independently developed by itself, and even so, India still insists on developing its own military industry.
However, India's weapons and equipment also have certain characteristics, the number of purchases is huge, and the models of equipment are complex, from many countries, including American, Russian, French and other equipment. India has a large base of weapons and a large number of weapons, its own military industry is underdeveloped, weapons and ammunition need to be imported, especially army equipment, a large number of which are Russian-style equipment, as for artillery shells, it is not as difficult as fighter planes, India also has its own factories to produce.
After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, both sides have launched a huge war of attrition, whether it is on the ground or in the air, especially the use of artillery is the largest, and the number of shells consumed per month is calculated in hundreds of thousands. Relying on a strong military-industrial background and a large number of stocks, Russia's artillery shell industry is almost out of supply and needs to be supplied by other countries. Ukraine relies on the support of the United States and NATO countries, and it needs reinforcements to fight for a while, so the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield has a relatively large demand for artillery shells.
Back in October 2023, the United States put forward plans to supply Ukraine with foreign artillery shells. Therefore, the United States purchased artillery shells from India, South Korea and other countries, and this news was also confirmed by the Indian Ministry of Defense Research, whose domestic 155mm jujube nuclear bombs have been used by the Ukrainian army to shell the Russian army. Although it seems to alleviate the urgent need on the front line, the Ukrainian soldiers still said that due to the sharp decline in the supply of artillery shells, they can only fire 1~2 shells per day; And because the sources of shells and artillery are extremely complex, the accuracy has dropped significantly. But at the moment, a single shell is rare and valuable, and it would be nice to have it.
India is equipped with artillery tanks, both American and Russian. For example, the Indian Army is equipped with Russian T-72 and T-90 tanks, with more than 2,000 vehicles, and the inventory of artillery shells is not small, which can be used with the tanks currently in service in Russia. The Indian Army is also armed with American-made M777 155mm howitzers, which have also been donated to Ukraine.
The scene of supplying ammunition to both sides at the same time and earning foreign exchange for itself has been repeated again after nearly 40 years, only this time India has played the role of a supplier of artillery shells. However, compared with the Iran-Iraq war, when imported weapons were "out of the circle" by relying on low prices and sufficient production capacity, India can let the United States and Russia take turns to buy ammunition this time, which is more of a big gamble: Who will let India's "Wanguo" tradition shine one day?
In order to meet the Indian army's huge and complex ammunition needs, India's nine large ammunition factories can produce not only 105mm and 155mm NATO-standard artillery shells, but also 122mm and 152mm Russian military-standard artillery shells. At the same time, India has also hoarded a large number of artillery shells in the past few years in a state of active preparation for war.