NATO has announced contracts worth more than a billion euros with companies in Germany and France to supply 155-millimetre artillery ammunition.

The first orders will be delivered “within 24 to 36 months,” said the director of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), Stacy Cummings, in a press conference at the military alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.

According to NATO sources, the contracts worth €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) should enable the purchase of more than 220,000 shells. The 155-millimetre shells can be used in Caesar and Panzerhaubitze 2000 weapon systems, both of which are being used in Ukraine against invading Russian forces.

The companies that have been awarded the contracts are reportedly the French company Nexter Munitions (KNDS) and the German company Junghans Microtec.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed the importance of increasing ammunition production.

“With the consumption of ammunition we see in Ukraine, and the needs we see to continue to provide support to Ukraine, we need to ramp up production. And that’s exactly what NATO allies are doing,” he said.

Stoltenberg said the NSPA had already concluded production agreements for $10 billion dollars since the alliance agreed on an action plan to boost arms production back in July.

Most recently, the NSPA announced a contract for the purchase of up to 1,000 Patriot anti-aircraft missiles at the beginning of January. It was valued at $5.5 billion.