La Agencia de Defensa Europea (EDA) ha acordado con 18 pa\u00edses de la Uni\u00f3n Europea (EU), la adquisici\u00f3n de 1(Un) Mill\u00f3n de proyectiles de artiller\u00eda calibre 155mm, para apoyar a Ucrania en el esfuerzo b\u00e9lico de defensa de su territorio, invadido por Rusia en Feb22. Esa cantidad de munici\u00f3n deber\u00eda ser adquirida en un plazo de 2 (dos) a\u00f1os, aunque el acuerdo firmado prev\u00e9 un programa m\u00e1s amplio de 7 (siete) a\u00f1os, para que todos los pa\u00edses puedan recomponer y abastecer sus respectivos stocks de municiones de todos los calibres y tipos, as\u00ed como incrementar las capacidades de producci\u00f3n de su Base Industrial de Defensa. El programa integral establece mecanismos de \u201cr\u00e1pida adquisici\u00f3n\u201d, con recursos econ\u00f3micos provenientes de los aportes comprometidos por los pa\u00edses miembros de la EU.<\/p>\n
STUTTGART, Germany \u2014 Eighteen European nations have teamed up under the European Defence Agency to jointly buy ammunition, the latest move in the European Union\u2019s race to replenish Ukraine\u2019s dwindling arsenal of artillery shells, officials in Brussels announced on Monday.<\/p>\n
Defense and foreign ministers for 17 European Union nations, along with Norway, signed an agreement March 20 committing to a joint \u201cfast-track\u201d acquisition of one million rounds of 155-millimeter artillery within the next two years, and a seven-year process to procure multiple types and calibers of ammunition to replenish national stocks of member nations.<\/p>\n
The announcement follows a trifecta of proposals laid out by EU foreign policy and defense chief Josep Borrell ahead of an informal meeting of the bloc\u2019s defense ministers in Stockholm on March 7-8.<\/p>\n
The new plan will provide \u201ca fast-track procedure, allowing for the tendering process to be simplified and contracts put into place at short notice,\u201d reads an EDA statement.<\/p>\n
Brussels is setting aside \u20ac1 billion ($1 billion) for the short-term initiative, which asks member nations to give Ukraine whatever artillery munitions they have left in their stocks and additionally route newly ordered top-ups to Kyiv. Another \u20ac1 billion is available for the seven-year joint acquisition plan. Member states will be reimbursed for their purchases via the European Peace Facility (EPF), the EU\u2019s off-budget, military aid mechanism.<\/p>\n