The military conflict in Ukraine has been rocking Europe for over six months.
Americans have been left struggling to understand why we are even there.
Now military experts warn these critical shortages are weakening readiness.
Endless military aid leading to problems for US
In the beginning Americans were told that Putin wouldn’t be able to hold on long.
He would run out of arms and infantry leading to a quick retreat.
Six months later, Putin’s shadow has only grown larger in eastern Ukraine.
The US has been supporting Ukraine by providing guns, ammunition, drones, missiles, and more.
It’s been reported the Pentagon has sent over 800,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition.
This has led to inventory on this specific round becoming, “uncomfortably low” according to one US Department of Defense official and that it is “not at the level we would like to go into combat.”
Now as the Pentagon looks to protect its interests in Asia, it needs to take inventory.
The Army recently announced that they are doing “a munitions industrial base deep dive.”
They’re realizing that we’re not replacing armaments as quickly as we’re sending them out.
Replenishing stockpiles of munitions doesn’t happen overnight.
Once orders are placed, they can take up to a year and a half to fill the orders.
A year-long delay can slow you down, but this is the nature of the business.
DOD officials shouldn’t have been caught off guard in the first place.
This wasn’t a surprise to anyone in national defense
We’ve been helping Ukraine militarily for six months now.
It may have seemed initially like it wouldn’t take long to fend off the Russians.
But Putin has made it clear that he’s not going to stop until his objectives are complete.
Now military experts are sounding the alarm on the lack of US readiness.
According to Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, “This was knowable. It was foreseeable. It was forewarned, including from industry leaders to the Pentagon. And it was easily fixable.”
Now after months of negligence she sees the situation as more dire.
Eaglen stressed, “There are some problems that you can buy your way out of . . . this is not one of them.”
While some are blaming the munitions shortfall on the chaos of war, others are blaming the bureaucracy of Washington, D.C.
In a call with shareholders in July, Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin claimed that the Pentagon hadn’t even attempted to buy more supplies.
Normally the government process for new contracts with defense contractors can take years.
Director of the Institute for Supply Chain Security at the Rand Corp, Brad Martin, stated “Nations assume the risk that war is not going to take place and have the assumption that they can react when they need.”
America is currently facing many challenges around the world.
China is inflaming tensions with Taiwan.
Putin is relentlessly attacking Ukraine and threatening Europe at large.
America’s strategy and supplies are all pointed toward Europe.
All the while, China is getting ready to exploit our vulnerable and overstretched position.
Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
