13 March 2025 – At the beginning of March 2025, US President Donald Trump announced the suspension of military assistance to Ukraine, including supplies of ammunition, vehicles and other defence equipment. This decision by the head of the White House has a significant impact not only on Ukraine’s defence capabilities, but also on the security of Europe as a whole.
The suspension of US aid to Ukraine highlights the current vulnerability of European countries, as Europe is currently dependent on the US for defence supplies. In response, EU countries plan to increase their own defence budgets and develop their own arms production. But it should be realised that this is a long-term issue, and it is impossible to cover all needs overnight, especially in critical categories such as ammunition.
“Even with the planned increase in production, the EU is unlikely to be able to reach the required level of provision until 2026-2027,” the experts said.
According to analysts, the annual needs of the warring Ukraine reach 3 million shells, while the EU was able to provide only 500,000 shells in 2023.
In 2024, the export of arms and military equipment from the United States grew by 29% and was a record high. The US State Department announced a figure of $318.7 billion. The main buyers were Turkey, Israel, Romania, Germany, Israel, Japan, and South Korea. The European Union was also able to increase its production capacity by up to 30 per cent, but as a result was able to supply Ukraine with 1 million rounds of ammunition.
Today, the EU is still not ready to cover its ammunition and weapons needs with its own production alone.
Amid concerns in Europe and Ukraine about changes in US defence support, the Czech company AKM Group-CZ has confirmed that it continues to steadily fulfil its obligations to End Recipients on the European continent according to previously established contractual schedules.
Since the beginning of 2025, the company has already successfully completed a series of deliveries of defence products from the US manufacturer.
This became known on the margins of the international defence exhibition Enforce Tac 2025 in Nuremberg, where representatives of the company held AKM Group-CZ talks with American partners.
“We are in close co-operation with US regulatory authorities and partners to ensure stable logistics chains and compliance with all export control requirements,” said the head of AKM Group-CZ’s logistics department.
As a reminder, in 2024, AKM Group-CZ signed an annual contract with an American arms manufacturer for the supply of products to Europe, the volume of which amounts to tens of millions of dollars.
“We have more than one contract with American manufacturers in the works and we do not feel any difficulties with deliveries due to political processes,” emphasised the head of the logistics department of AKM Group-CZ.
Taking geopolitical processes into account, it can be argued that in the coming years countries will avoid being tied to a single manufacturing country. In this case, international suppliers will become key players in the international defence market. Managing logistics under global constraints, providing alternative supply channels, finding hybrid solutions by combining technologies from different countries and adapting products to the requirements of end recipients – these are the challenges that international defence companies will have to face.
Photos courtesy AKM Group-CZ