Earlier today I caught a report that the North Korean artillery ammunition explodes when it’s fired and several Russian artilley troops have been killed. Funny that the ammunition is killing more Russians than Ukrainians.
How is that bet we made working out for ya?
“North Korean artillery ammunition explodes when it’s fired”
Most of their stockpile is very old, with a relatively high rate of accidental detonation during handling or firing, but by no means is that a majority. Just more than normal. Relatively more significant is the dud rate, where it fails to detonate on impact. Some batches can be 50% duds.
Nonetheless, North Korea has mountains of those old shells, and some new production.
Artillery shells are one of the last things that the Russian Military will likely run out of - but the guns themselves, and replacement barrels as they wear out, are becoming more of a near term issue.
Anything that bad North Korean ammo can contribute to speeding along the attrition of Russian Artillery will help, but we can anticipate that they will likely start providing some of their guns and replacement barrels as well. North Korea, just by itself, if they significantly depleted their own Artillery capability, could probably keep Russia firing at these rates for a year.