President Biden is taking flak for sending cluster bombs to Ukraine, and over the weekend he blurted out the truth that both Kyiv and the U.S. are running low on firepower. So why doesn’t the Commander in Chief unveil a new national effort to expand U.S. weapons production and stocks?

“The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition,” Mr. Biden told CNN. “This is a war relating to munitions. And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it.” The U.S. has given Kyiv more than two million 155mm artillery rounds, and the Pentagon says Ukraine is burning through 3,000 shells a day.

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 America’s 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 Ukraine’s summer offensive becomes a slog.

Congress’s supplemental cash for Ukraine is helping refill America’s 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. The lesson applies to the long-range missiles the U.S. may need if China decides to strike Taiwan.

In a war game for control of the island that the House Select Committee on China played this year, the U.S. ran out of long-range antiship weapons in three days. Retired Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery says in most games the U.S. needs roughly 1,200 long-range antiship missiles, known as LRASMs. But U.S. inventories are in the low hundreds after years of small orders.

Mr. Biden’s budget requested money for multiyear missile buys to exploit economies of scale. But his budget deal with House Republicans cramps defense spending for 2024 and 2025, and now Congress is squabbling over the fixed pie.

The House Appropriations Committee is declining to fund bulk buying of two crucial precision weapons—the Standard Missile-6 and an air-to-air AMRAAM missile. GOP appropriator Ken Calvert told us the Pentagon didn’t show sufficient savings and that contractors are struggling to fill their orders.

Yet capricious demand from Washington is one reason the industrial base is so brittle. Some manufacturers make a part or two for multiple missiles, and these subcontractors “have been living on the thin edge of profitability,” says Mark Gunzinger of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

House appropriators are right that readiness accounts need more money for maintenance and training, which their bill offers, and the missile tussle is an example of the risks of insufficient defense spending. The ammo shortage will require presidential leadership that is so far missing in action.

Mr. Biden could announce he’s asking Congress to fund a large expansion of U.S. weapons stocks. He could give a speech leveling to the public that deep American magazines make dictators think twice about invading a neighbor. He could explain how long-range missiles will reduce U.S. casualties in the terrible event the weapons are needed. America’s munitions shortage is a disgrace that needs urgent fixing.

link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a...efense-military-cong

All part of the plan?

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why doesn’t the Commander in Chief unveil a new national effort to expand U.S. weapons production and stocks?

Possibly because his synapses are in short supply and his base wants money thrown at voter-beneficiaries rather than anything to do with defense?

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America’s munitions shortage is a disgrace that needs urgent fixing.

Guessing that will probably have to wait till after the next election. Hope events prove me wrong, though.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
...Mr. Biden has an obligation to make sure the U.S. never goes Winchester, as the saying has it...

Can someone please explain to me what this saying means? This is the first time I'm reading it.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
America[n]’s munitions shortage is a disgrace that needs urgent fixing.

I concur with this. I'm down to less than 10,000 rounds and I think it is a disgrace that needs urgent fixing. I need to go check out the deals in Billy Bob's Big Bang Boutique ASAP.

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Originally posted by Broadside:

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
...Mr. Biden has an obligation to make sure the U.S. never goes Winchester, as the saying has it...

Can someone please explain to me what this saying means? This is the first time I'm reading it.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
America[n]’s munitions shortage is a disgrace that needs urgent fixing.

I concur with this. I'm down to less than 10,000 rounds and I think it is a disgrace that needs urgent fixing. I need to go check out the deals in Billy Bob's Big Bang Boutique ASAP.

"Winchester" means to run out of ammo. I think it started during Vietnam.

old pilot speak during Vietnam for out of ammo. I am winchester on xxx. etc.


But it also means Winchester can't produce enough to supply anyone. In 2022, I had outstanding ammo orders from 2018-2022 from Winchester. Canceled it all in 2022.

Good god, we were in a twenty year boondoggle in Iraq and Afghanistan and not a word was mentioned about dwindling stockpiles of armament. Now, after a year or so of supplying Ukraine, we are on the brink of disaster.
Could be, but I’m having a hard time believing that.

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Originally posted by Chowser:
old pilot speak during Vietnam for out of ammo. I am winchester on xxx. etc.

"Feet wet" or "feet dry" when crossing from land to sea was easy to understand, but "Winchester" on ammo, and "bingo" on fuel made no sense to me.

But we're off topic.

I wonder who thought it was a good idea to put Joe in front of cameras & tell the world we're running low on munitions.

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Originally posted by LoungeChair:
Good god, we were in a twenty year boondoggle in Iraq and Afghanistan and not a word was mentioned about dwindling stockpiles of armament. Now, after a year or so of supplying Ukraine, we are on the brink of disaster.
Could be, but I’m having a hard time believing that.

Ukraine is a completely different war than what was going on in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I realize the old 8 inch howitzer is no longer used in US arty batteries. But surely, we still have thousands of guns, both SP and towed, and millions of rounds of perfectly good ammo in stock. In VN, we had to shoot a certain number of H&Is each night, just to use up some of the old stock from 1944. This was in 1969. I would bet there are still lots of it in warehouses. Same goes for the 175 mm guns.

I don't have a 175mm gun!

There is a nitro cellulose production facility in Virginia that has been making product since WW2. They are so screwed up in their production due to years of improper management that they have resorted to buying the product from factories in POLAND in order to meet their production requirements.

They are managed by BAE and BAE has not put any significant funds into maintaining or upgrading the production facility. Some of the machinery is WW2 based.

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Originally posted by smlsig:
BAE has not put any significant funds into maintaining or upgrading the production facility.

That onus is on the Army (Radford Army Ammunition Plant); it's a government-owned facility. PAA appropriation, Budget Activity 2 (EP1000; Industrial Facilities).

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Originally posted by Watergoat:
I realize the old 8-inch howitzer is no longer used in US arty batteries. But surely, we still have thousands of guns, both SP and towed, and millions of rounds of perfectly good ammo in stock. I would bet there are still lots of it in warehouses. Same goes for the 175 mm guns.

No, we don't. There has been no money appropriated to maintain the howitzers/guns or people paid to do so. Gone. Ammo for these have been in the demilitarization stockpile and are probably long gone by now; their steel and Comp B/TNT reused for other purposes. The 175s were gone well before I attended FAOBC in 1976 and the 8' was on it's way out.

The Army leadership, in their infinite wisdom, elected to do away with the 175 and 8" and consolidate down to 155 and 105.

Museum pieces, they are.

From what I understand the production facility that makes the 155mm rounds will be ramping up production and will be 24/7 for a while.

The issue at-hand isn't artillery ammo or, Stinger MANPADS, its the high-technology items that require LONG lead times....they aren't getting built fast enough nor is there contracts for them.

There's several issues, the 'next war' we're looking at facing China, which is across the Pacific, this is going to be a Navy/Air Force war, massive distances and we've got to bring all the party favors. Our shipbuilding industry is barely alive, it's not even competitive on a world stage; the Navy's own repair facilities (4-shipyards) are generations behind in modernity and are backlogged with maintenance work; the Navy is beset by poor leadership particularly in acquisitions as evidenced by the successive boondoggle programs that they have, not to mention DoD/USN likes to meddle with designs and insert all manor of add-ons during the build process further delaying things; Navy leadership is highly political they're not requesting or, arguing for a bigger force and increased weapons reserves they're in lock-step with the POTUS view of foot-dragging/minimal defense spending. The sad thing is there's very little interest in Congress to address this, there's a handful of Senators and Congress members who's districts represent those massive Navy bases and shipyards but, that's it.

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Originally posted by Captain Morgan:
From what I understand the production facility that makes the 155mm rounds will be ramping up production and will be 24/7 for a while.

Scranton Army Ammunition Plant.

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Originally posted by corsair:
The issue at-hand isn't artillery ammo or, Stinger MANPADS, its the high-technology items that require LONG lead times....they aren't getting built fast enough nor is there contracts for them.

Yep. It's generally the sensors - laser, radar and IR; inertial navigation, GPS...to name a few. NOT commercial stuff. Oh, yea...and computer chips, too. The trained workforce team that made this stuff is gone, disbanded. Production tooling - who knows where it's gone to. And that pesky competitive contracting business. Our country's leadership is so short sided. Has been for decades.

We also have just one arsenal that makes gun tubes:

https://www.defensenews.com/la...weapons-for-ukraine/

We better pray we never get in another real war, because our greatest weapon is long gone. If we do, it'll be over pretty quick, just as soon as we run out of everything, which won't take long.