The war in Ukraine has led to the depletion of stocks of some types of ammunition in the United States, at the same time the Pentagon is in no hurry to replenish its arsenal, which is causing concern among some high-ranking officials in this country. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal.
As noted by the U.S. Department of Defense, most of the weapons and military equipment, including ammunition, were provided to Ukraine from US stocks, which, accordingly, led to their exhaustion.
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For example, as of August 24, the United States delivered up to 806,000 155-mm ammunition to Ukraine. It is currently unknown how many of these artillery shells were in the US warehouses at the beginning of the year.
At the same time, in recent weeks, the level of 155-mm shells in US military warehouses has become uncomfortably low, as said one of the representatives of the country's Department of Defense. Such level of stocks is not yet critical, but it is primarily due to the fact that the US is not currently involved in any large-scale military conflict: "This is not the level of ammunition that we would like to go into battle with."
According to the U.S. Army, the military is currently conducting a "deep dive" into the production base to determine how to support Ukraine while protecting its own supply needs.
The U.S. Army representatives also said they have requested $500 million a year to modernize munitions plants. In addition, they are also counting on existing contracts to increase ammunition, however, according to senior Army officials, the U.S. Army has not yet signed new contracts to accommodate the higher amounts it will need to restock.
At the same time, according to various sources, the lack of ammunition is not related to a lack of funds. The fact is that after the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into Ukraine, the Pentagon did not always warn representatives of the defense industry about own needs, which led to delays and did not allow defense contractors to prepare for increase in production.
The supply lines that are currently idle cannot be turned on at the same time, and it may take some time for active lines to increase in performance. It is noted that companies already produce 155-mm ammunition, but not in the quantities that the Pentagon needs.
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