(RightIsRight.co) – The ammunition stocks of the US military have been reduced substantially from helping Ukraine repulse the invasion of Putin’s Russia, causing war readiness concerns among Pentagon officials, according to a report.
Since Vladimir Putin sent 200,000 troops to attack Ukraine on February 24, the US government has aided Ukraine with more than $13 million worth of weapons systems and ammunition.
Much of that has come from the existing arsenals of the US military, which must now be replenished, officials of the Department of Defense have told The Wall Street Journal in a report cited by The Daily Caller.
The US weapons and ammo have been instrumental in helping Ukraine not only survive and stop but also start to roll back the Russian invasion.
However, the report notes that the Department of Defense has been moving slowly on replenishing the depleted ammunition stocks of the US military, which is causing serious worries among some officials.
A Pentagon official told the paper that the US stockpile of 155mm combat rounds fired by the top-notch howitzers America has supplied to Ukraine since late May has now become “uncomfortably low.”
As of August 24, the United States has provided the Ukrainians with 806,000 rounds of the 100-pound explosives.
“It is not at the level we would like to go into combat,” the defense official declared.
To save up on its 155mm rounds, last week, the US government provided Ukrainians with smaller 105mm rounds for the M777 howitzers that America began donating to Ukraine in late May.
“[The depletion of US arsenals] was forewarned, including from industry leaders to the Pentagon. And it was easily fixable,” Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is quoted as saying.
US Army officials told the paper that the Army would carry out a “deep dive” into the “ammunitions industrial base” to figure out how to best continue to support Ukraine against Putin’s Russia while simultaneously keeping the proper ammo supplies for the US.
The Army has already asked for an additional $500 million in funding to upgrade ammunition factories and up the thresholds on existing production contracts.
While Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, has decreed monthly reviews of US weapon stores to keep up to date on readiness, defense industry leaders said the Biden administration had made production requirement changes caused by helping Ukraine against Russia.
The report said that the administration has thus far failed to boost production capacity to replenish the US arsenals with additional munitions.
Does it concern you that the US military is running low on ammunition because it is being sent to Ukraine? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts by emailing [email protected]. Thank you.
