In Poland, there has been a curious approach to calculating the country’s artillery ammunition needs and covering these needs with local production capabilities. The management of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ), the largest defense conglomerate in Poland, references its own Ministry of Defense's calculations in these matters, Defense Express reports.In general, Poland has cast doubt on the artillery ammunition expenditure figures related to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Ukraine's Defense Forces, and the overall war against Russia. This was directly stated by PGZ Vice President Arkadiusz Bąk in an interview with the Polish media Money.He specifically mentioned that PGZ plans to produce 150,000 to 180,000 155mm shells, producing 12,500–15,000 units per month, and these should be modern samples with a bottom gas generator.When asked whether this is enough given that Ukraine reportedly used between 4,000 to 6,000 155mm shells daily, and up to 9,000 during escalations, Arkadiusz Bąk stated that these numbers were “significantly exaggerated.”"If we calculate how many howitzers and their resources are used, we’ll find that they need weekly repairs. These numbers are significantly inflated, as are all wartime data. The data we get from our military, which is verified with access to primary sources, is difficult to compare with Ukrainian military data or even journalistic information,” Bąk said.He further clarified that Ukraine actively uses 152mm artillery with a range of 17–18 km, while the advantage of Polish shells lies in their increased range, allowing them to shoot up to 40 km. He emphasized that the real assessments of Poland's needs are made by the Inspection of Armed Forces Logistics, and PGZ's figures align with those assessments.According to Defense Express, based on verified data publicly shared during the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi's report on August 20, 2024, Ukraine had been using on average 14,600 artillery shells, and Russia used 44,500 shells daily as of the summer of 2024.Even considering that a significant portion of these were indeed Soviet-made shells (not just 152mm but also 122mm), it is clear that Ukraine's defense forces had been using at least thousands of 155mm shells daily, even a year ago.Moreover, some of these were modern shells with a bottom generator, allowing for 40 km range on modern 155mm artillery systems with a 52-caliber barrel and digital fire control systems. Therefore, claims that the Polish Army operates at a different level seem quite strange. As well as the ignorance regarding the fact that Ukrainian soldiers are indeed firing artillery systems well beyond any peacetime norms, and they do this not out of choice but necessity.Ultimately, the main question for the Polish side should be whether their assessments of needs are accurate. Are they based on the fact that Poland currently only has about 140 155mm self-propelled howitzers—K9A1 from South Korea and Krab from their own production?Meanwhile, Ukraine has received around 200 M777 towed artillery systems alone. There are also other towed 155mm guns, including the domestic Bohdana-BG, which is already being supplied to the military. Moreover, there are numerous self-propelled howitzers of nearly every model from around the world. Therefore, it is quite possible that the number of 155mm artillery pieces in Ukraine is 4-5 times greater than in Poland.