Conflicts intensify in the Middle East and Europe, and China dominates as a threat. America’s declining arsenal of high-end munitions is an alarming crisis. The United States, once a stronghold of military power, now faces the possibility of a munitions shortage. This hopeless situation requires the development of a national imperative munitions stockpile.
European weapons architects are overwhelmed and labouring to meet Ukraine’s consumption of more than 6,000 artillery rounds each day. War witnessing peak counterattack fighting. Ukraine’s capacity to avoid defeat and defend itself against the Russians largely relies on an uninterrupted supply of this ammunition. Ukrainian forces are preserving their ammunition supply, which might lead to delays in forthcoming counterattacks.
Over the coming months, this lack of ammunition could cause Ukrainian military units to make tough choices. It would include allocating resources across different frontlines, concentrating on areas where keeping control is most important, and potentially permitting minor territorial defeats in less critical sectors.
The United States Department of Defense drags munitions from its war resource stocks to provide Ukraine’s massive ammunition needs.
Last year, to help fulfil the need for Ukrainian munitions, the Pentagon tapped into a stockpile of American 155mm rounds in Israel. The US sent hundreds of thousands to Ukraine. These rounds were kept for decades in Israeli bunkers. They aimed to deliver an Israeli qualitative military edge. This is a pillar of American policy in the Middle East.
Currently, Israel needs them back to target Hamas’s control cells in its war in Gaza. The U.S. is helping two countries. Both use enormous amounts of 155-millimetre artillery and other ammunition in wars. It may prolong for many months. Last month, the Pentagon launched a team to analyse American inventories to specify ammunition for Israel.
Earlier this month, Senator Deb Fischer, a senior Senate Armed Services Committee member, noted that the U.S. must develop its munitions production capacity.
Once a conflict starts, it can lead to high ammunition consumption. The fighting in Ukraine should act as a warning about the production of munitions the U.S. would need in a dispute with China over Taiwan. The U.S. must determine the extensive issues within its munitions developing processes before a conflict with China.
To arm US allies and partners and to deter and, if required, fight a significant theatre war, the United States needs a crucial munitions stockpile. This reserve will allow the Department of Defense to restore critical munitions stocks to maintain air dominance. It would defend against air and missile threats and strike hard and deeply buried goals.
The PROCURE Act, presented by a bipartisan group of senators in the previous Congress, would go a long way toward making this stockpile. The legislation seeks to establish a $500 million yearly revolving fund in the Treasury Department for the Pentagon to procure necessary munitions. This fund would allow the Defense Department to refill high-demand munitions provided to partner countries swiftly. It would use profits from the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program.
The act is prepared to support democratic nations and protect American interests overseas. It will allow the Pentagon to request critical munitions continuously. The Senate Armed Services Committee should push to give a hand to the PROCURE Act.
The National Defense Stockpile maintains an emergency supply of 50 critical minerals. Many minerals, such as aluminium, titanium, and magnesium, are used to produce arms. The value of materials in the U.S. National Defense Stockpile has drastically reduced from $42 billion in 1952 to less than $1 billion. America’s mineral reserves are quite lower than China’s.
National Defense Stockpile holds only 300 metric tons of cobalt compared to China’s 7,000 metric tons. Congress must raise the National Defense Stockpile to support a potential major theatre war. US munitions stockpiles and developing capacity need to be improved, and a glaring exposure in national defence strategy.
