The U.S. Army announced yesterday that it has placed an order worth $522 million from two companies to produce 155mm artillery munitions for Ukraine.

Officially clarified on Jan. 30, the orders are from Northrop Grumman and Global Military Products Inc. given to these companies. The orders were announced after growing concerns that Ukraine was rapidly depleting stocks of artillery shells from the United States and other allies. In the statement made by the army, it was stated that the delivery of the new ammunition is planned to begin in March this year.

The contract is funded by the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Ukraine and Russia fired large quantities of artillery ammunition at each other. In November, a US official said Russian forces fired about 20,000 artillery shells a day. Ukraine’s rate was between 4,000 and 7,000 rounds per day.

Rates have since dropped as the winter season begins and both sides are short of ammunition. “The war in Ukraine is depleting enormous amounts of ammunition and depleting allied stockpiles. Ukraine’s current ammunition expenditure rate is many times higher than our current production rate. This puts a strain on our defence industries,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on last Monday.