From the Analyst:
BUYING NEW EQUIPMENT AIDS UKRAINE

This year the whole of NATO will buy an additional $57 billion in new military equipment. That’s equal to the entire Russian defence budget in 2021. Poland is second on the list and represents almost a fifth of that amount.
Wether it’s imported or home manufactured each new tank and aircraft, howitzer and IFV is replacing an old one. Although in Poland’s case it’s will create an entirely new army. By 2028 it looks as if there will be so many IFV’s every household in Poland will get one for emergencies.
Yes it’s an exaggerated point but that’s the level Poland is at in terms of massive military buildups. It will be the most powerful military in NATO outside of the US, equal to Germany, France and the U.K. combined.
All of this means all of what they did have is likely to head East into Ukraine. And the same can be said about just about any other piece of kit purchased by any other country. If it’s new and a replacement, what it replaces is almost certainly good enough to be used against the Russians.
The problem lies in ammunition and the speed of procuring it. We’ve discussed this before and nothing much has changed.
The point is that new NATO buying equals Ukraine getting the old kit to use. And that can’t be a bad thing unless it’s so obsolete it’s not worth using.
Buying new equipment for Ukraine is also taking place under various assistance packages. For example Holland and the US are financing the purchase of howitzers in Czechia. The U.K. is underwriting the manufacturing of 152mm ammunition in Bulgaria and Romania. There are many more similar programs under way.
There’s a general feeling that NATO nations move too slowly. And frankly I think that’s always true. It given time things are starting to move. As percentages they seem small in fiscal terms. However European & US economies are so vast that even a small increase is bigger than Russias 2022 defence budget. The U.K. for example officially spent $68 billion against Russia’s $66 billion. It’s more about what you can get for your money though - and the U.K. gets far less in volume but much more in quality.
Is NATO going too slowly? Some countries are some countries aren’t. Germany as always seems asleep at the wheel after briefly waking from a long slumber. The U.K. has a staggering capacity to say its spending more and get less and less every year, while not actually making a sensible decision about anything. Politicians without any comprehension of the defence industry are another problem. Britain is about to enjoy that luxury again in the next few months.
France sings a song loudly and then exits stage right without an encore and nobody notices. Exhortations of creating a wartime defence economy seem to have slipped into the mists of time.
NATO is doing better. But it can do much more. Some are doing more than others, as always.
I still think that we haven’t been fast enough or quick enough getting kit to Ukraine. And we haven’t sent enough - we have given them enough to survive but not necessarily enough to win.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!