WASHINGTON The U.S. plans to increase monthly production of 155 millimeter artillery shells over the coming years to 100,000 in 2025, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer said on Friday.

"We're going to be at 100,000 per month in 2025. We were at 14,000 per month 6 or 8 months ago, we are now at 28,000 a month today," Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer said at a conference on Friday.

Demand for 155mm artillery rounds has soared in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But allies' supplies for their own defense have been run down as they have rushed shells to Kyiv, which fires thousands of rounds per day.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington)