Here’s How Long It Will Take To Replenish US Weapons Stocks Sent To UkraineMicaela Burrow
Reporter
January 22, 2023 1:37 PM ET
The U.S. will not be able to restock inventories of critical munitions sent to Ukraine for years, even as some stockpiles have become nearly depleted, the Center for Strategic and International Studies found.
The U.S. has provided 1.1 million rounds of 155mm ammunition to Ukraine as of Thursday, according to the Pentagon.
“Fortunately, in this year’s NDAA, the Armed Services Committees included critical audit provisions for this funding, including one that will provide quarterly reports on the production of the US munitions industrial base,” Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Even at emergency production rates, it will take several years before the U.S. is able to restock supplies of critical munitions sent to Ukraine, according to a recent analysis conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C. based think tank.
The U.S. has sent millions of rounds of ammunition of various kinds to Ukraine, according to a Thursday fact sheet from the Department of Defense (DOD), which has resulted in severe deficits in some cases. Only one of the six weapons where stockpiles have fallen dangerously low is projected to reach normal levels within five years, assuming no further deliveries to Ukraine, leaving the U.S. scrambling for alternatives, Mark Cancian, a former artillery officer and Pentagon acquisition official, found in a report published in CSIS.
“Longer term, there will be some competition between Taiwan’s needs and rebuilding US stockpiles,” Cancian told the Daily Caller News Foundation, as the U.S. pledges to help the island fend off Chinese aggression. “That’s why increased munitions production is so important.”
“Most inventories, though not all, will take many years to replace. For most items, there are workarounds, but there may be a crisis brewing over artillery ammunition,” Cancian wrote.
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https://dailycaller.com/2023/01/22/replenish-weapons-stocks-ammunition-ukraine/
