David Hawkins
July 11, 2023
From Slay News
Democrat President Joe Biden has committed the biggest blunder in the history of modern warfare.
But the blame is not his alone, however, as Congress, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), deserves some of it too.
According to multiple media reports, and Bidenās own mouth, we are running out of ammunition because Ukraine is hoovering it all up.
Biden is also running the strategic oil reserve low for political reasons but running out of munitions is beyond the pale.
And begs the question, what are we getting for our nearly trillion-dollar-a-year defense budget?
Russia spends a fraction of what we spend and they are not running out of ammo.
āThe Ukrainians are running out of ammunition,ā Biden told CNN.
āThis is a war relating to munitions.
āAnd theyāre running out of that ammunition, and weāre low on it.ā
David Sachs said: āAccording to the AP, it will take the U.S. 5 years to ramp production of 155mm artillery ammo to 85k shells per month.
āThis is up from 14k shells/month pre-war and 20k shells/month at current production levels.
āWhy the long ramp time? Obviously, artillery shells are more complicated to make than bullets.
āThe Pentagon has to bid vendors who have to scale up production lines and in some cases set up new factories.
āPresumably one has to proceed with care when a mistake could blow up the entire operation.
āThe problem is that even 85k shells/month would comprise less than half of Ukraineās current usage level, which is 6,000-8,000 shells/day.
āEven at that pace, it is being significantly outgunned by Russia, which is reportedly expending 20k shells per day and as many as 50k on peak days.
āZaluzhny confirmed this last week when he told the WashPost that at times the artillery gap is 10-to-1.
āThe balance of artillery being so heavily in Russiaās favor was one of the key data points cited by Mearsheimer in explaining why he believes that Russia is winning the war.
āBut rather than facing facts, pro-Ukraine partisans simply smear any dissent from their rosy scenarios as āPutin talking points.ā
āNow Biden himself has acknowledged the ammo shortage, which is why he is giving Ukraine cluster bombs.
āBecause remarkably, cluster bombs are the only type of 155mm ammo that the US has left available to give.
āAnd just to anticipate some of the replies: no, Iām not an Expertā¢ļø on artillery, but I do have the capacity to read and do math, which is all it takes.ā
From the AP:
The Army is spending about $1.5 billion to ramp up production of 155 mm rounds from 14,000 a month before Russia invaded Ukraine to over 85,000 a month by 2028, U.S. Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo told a symposium last month.
Already, the U.S. military has given Ukraine more than 1.5 million rounds of 155 mm ammunition, according to Army figures.
But even with higher near-term production rates, the U.S. cannot replenish its stockpile or catch up to the usage pace in Ukraine, where officials estimate that the Ukrainian military is firing 6,000 to 8,000 shells per day.
In other words, two daysā worth of shells fired by Ukraine equates to the United Statesā monthly pre-war production figure.
Denialism about the ammunition shortage is putting America in a vulnerable position.
The US has been running around the world raiding its own stockpiles and seeking to borrow from allies like South Korea.
From Wall Street Journal in May:
The U.S. has proĀvided more than two milĀlion 155mm arĀtillery rounds to Ukraine since the RussĀian invasion beĀgan in FebĀruary 2022, and its reĀmainĀing supĀply has beĀgun to dry up, forcĀing the U.S. on a global hunt for amĀmuĀniĀtion.
The Pentagon has raided its own stocks of arĀtillery shells at sites in GerĀmany, IsĀrael, Kuwait and South KoĀrea to make up for the shortĀfall, U.S. and conĀgresĀsional ofĀfiĀcials said.
According to The Wall Street Journal, in an article titled, āAmerica Is Running Out of Ammoā:
The U.S. is ramping up to produce more than 20,000 shells a month this year and more in 2024, the U.S. Army says.
But Americaās adversaries can do the math and understand the U.S. may struggle to support a long war.
The Biden crowd has cited limited stocks as a reason to withhold the Army Tactical Missile System, which could help Kyiv strike deep into Russian positions.
The Administration is now leaking that it might furnish the missiles as Ukraineās summer offensive becomes a slog.
āCongressās supplemental cash for Ukraine is helping refill Americaās armory, but Mr. Biden has an obligation to make sure the U.S. never goes Winchester, as the saying has it, and not only for Ukraine,ā the WSJ said.
The lesson applies to the long-range missiles the U.S. may need if China decides to strike Taiwan.
READ MORE: Zelensky Bites Hand That Feeds Ukraine, Rips Biden: āAbsurd, Unprecedented, Weaknessā
