>having them shoot sand gathered from the ocean floor as cheap ammo
Would wear out the barrel liners with a quickness
16" shells have a variable time fuse that can turn the regular HE shell into a bursting charge. The Viet Cong found this out the hard way
Other than trying to get sailors to wash sand, how do you propose getting an Iowa-class battleship on station?
Only four Iowa-class were built. The other museum ships Alabama, Massachusetts, and Texas I would not want to even consider reactivating
A howitzer would be one way to go. Check out the M50 Ontos and the six recoiless rifles with beehive rounds
106mm far cheaper than 16" rounds, and you could put the recoiless rifles on a much smaller vessel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-wcl1b8fHs
I find neither CNN nor Times of Israel to be credible
Ukraine seeks share of EU arms-industry boom
By Tomáš Hrivňák, Bratislava, 12 February 2026 12:54
Ukraine will set up 10 export hubs across Europe to sell surplus military equipment produced by domestic firms.
The move could allow Ukrainian manufacturers to scale production and capture a share of the sky-high profits enjoyed by European arms makers, potentially creating a new source of revenue for Ukraine’s wartime economy.
According to president Volodymyr Zelensky’s remarks on Monday (9 February) at the Kyiv Aviation Institute, the centres will be located in northern Europe as well as the Baltic states.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, European weapons producers, such as Rheinmetall and Helsing, have enjoyed a surging high of profits and soaring valuations, fuelled by rearmament efforts across the continent, amid concerns that Russia could attack other countries.
Last week, Czech arms maker CSG completed the biggest initial public offering in defence-industry history, making its owner, Michal Strnad, the richest man in Central and Eastern Europe.
The European Union last year introduced the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program, designed to provide financial support to member states to accelerate defence readiness by enabling urgent and major investments. Ukraine can participate as a partner in joint procurement projects conducted by EU member states under SAFE.
Ukrainian officials and defence industry have actively pitched Ukrainian firms’ capacity in ammunition, FPV (first-person view) drones, drones with extended range, and missile systems as contributions to EU joint-procurement projects.
Countries set to receive funding include Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, and Romania, with combined project values running into tens of billions of euros.
For example, Romania alone is slated to receive more than €16.6bn, while Belgium’s allocation tops €8.3bn.
A second group of eight national plans — including those from Poland, Italy, and Finland — has cleared a procedural hurdle in Brussels and is on track for formal approval by EU ministers on 17 February.
Zelensky’s shift on arms exports
This concern is one of the reasons Zelensky has been cautious about opening foreign markets to domestic companies. In October 2024, he ruled out such a move because of the risk that technology could reach the Russian Federation, but instructed then–defence minister Rustem Umerov to develop models for selling Ukrainian UAVs abroad, according to the news website Dengi.
In October 2024, Zelensky told Ukrainian TV that the exports would be possible only to Ukraine’s allies in the Ramstein group, which coordinates military support for Kyiv, Reuters reported.
In 2025, the president’s rhetoric began to shift. In June, he announced the first agreements with partners under the ‘Build with Ukraine’ programme, which involves exporting military technologies and opening production facilities abroad.
In September 2025, Zelensky continued to advance the initiative, announcing the possibility of controlled exports of surplus weapons to partners. In November, the commander-in-chief said that by the end of the year Ukraine would open two export offices, in Berlin and Copenhagen.
According to Umerov, now secretary of the national security and defence council, the first real contracts are expected in the second half of 2026, the Ukrainian website Dengi reported.
Additionally, Zelensky also announced on Monday that drone production in Germany will begin in mid-February.
“This is a fully operational production line. In the U.K., similar production lines are already running. These are all Ukrainian technologies,” he wrote on Telegram.
More:
https://euobserver.com/202647/ukraine-seeks-share-of-eu-arms-industry-boom/
Related:
Exclusive: Ukraine's 2026 defence exports could hit 'several billion dollars', official says
By Yuliia Dysa February 20, 20261:03 AM ESTUpdated February 20, 2026
Ukraine to open battlefield-tested arms export centres across Europe, Zelenskyy says
By Sasha Vakulina Published on 09/02/2026 - 18:13 GMT+1•Updated 19:17
That's nice sparky