“They are not ‘cast offs.’ “
They are indeed almost twenty year old cast off individual examples from a weapons system that was no longer in production. IOW, not new.
“The US Army has signed a contract with a British defense company to restart production of M777 howitzer parts that will be sent to Ukraine to refurbish old guns.”
“Though restarting older weapon production lines is rare, the war in Ukraine has become a testing ground for the arms industry.”
That’s because the Ukrs aren’t/can’t maintain or fix them. Just shooting constantly. Those 40K Rounds went quick. The M777 still is the de facto frontline piece for the US and Not ‘cast off.’