{"id":133695,"date":"2022-11-18T12:59:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T17:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=133695"},"modified":"2022-11-21T16:39:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T21:39:25","slug":"reduction-of-us-defense-stockpiles-in-support-of-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=133695","title":{"rendered":"Reduction of US defense stockpiles in support of Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The war in Ukraine has not just depleted defense stockpiles held by both the Ukrainians and the Russians. It has also depleted stockpiles held by the United States and by other Western countries. Would the US and its allies have enough defense stockpiles to support Taiwan or another country facing similar invasions? It does not appear that the U.S. production rate would indefinitely be able to keep up with continued weapons and rounds supply to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

From The National Defense:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Defense Department, in the six months from March to September, the United States supplied Ukraine with more than 800,000 155mm artillery rounds. From Sept. 28 to Oct. 28, it donated another 100,000 rounds. The September production capacity, meanwhile, was only 14,400 rounds per month. While the exact number of 155mm artillery rounds the United States possesses is unknown, this gap between utilization and production will significantly deplete its reserves over time.<\/p>\n

The current plan to increase production capacity would incrementally bring the total number of 155mm rounds produced per month to 36,000 over the next three years. While this represents an improvement, even this will not address and backfill a depletion rate of more than 100,000 per month.<\/p>\n

Other weapon systems face even more dire production challenges. The United States has delivered more than 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine, helping prevent Russian domination of contested airspace. Having been focused on counterinsurgency operations over the past 20 years, the Pentagon has not procured Stingers in more than a decade. Raytheon Technologies — the manufacturer of the Stinger — reported earlier this year that several materials used in the production of the Stinger are no longer available. As such, Raytheon will not be able to resume Stinger production until 2023.<\/p>\n

As for the Javelin, the Pentagon has continued to procure the anti-armor system over the years. Ramping up production of both the system and missiles will be less challenging than the Stinger. In an interview with CBS News, Lockheed Martin’s CEO Jim Taiclet stated the production of Javelin missiles could be upgraded from approximately 2,000 missiles per year to 4,000 over the span of several years. The required multi-year window to upgrade production capabilities is an evident issue across the defense industrial base. Furthermore, it is also not clear that 4,000 missiles per year will be sufficient, given the need to replenish depleted supplies, the strong potential for the war in Ukraine to continue and Taiwan’s need for similar systems.<\/p>\n

The weapons used to devastating effect in Ukraine are already in high demand in Taiwan. The Biden administration has signaled support for turning Taiwan into a “porcupine” that would be costly to invade, thus deterring the People’s Republic of China from attacking. This strategy would take the form of asymmetric warfare — placing an emphasis on the use of systems such as Stingers and Javelins as opposed to tanks and helicopters.<\/p>\n

The war in Ukraine has already strained defense procurements for Taiwan. In August, the island abandoned a contract to purchase 155mm M901 self-propelled howitzers after a 2023 delivery date was pushed back to 2026 due to supply chain stress.<\/p>\n

The replacement for the M901 will hardly relieve strains on the defense industry. Taiwan now plans to increase its purchase of HIMARS systems from 11 to 29 by 2027.<\/p>\n

The U.S. defense industrial base is operating in a distinctly different environment than it was five years ago — great power competition is again paramount, and there is an unexpected need to replenish U.S. military stockpiles.<\/p>\n

To properly support Ukraine, enhance Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against attack and maintain its own readiness, the U.S. government must work to enhance the production capacity of critical weapons systems in the short and long term.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The National Defense has the article here<\/a>. YouTuber Binkov’s Battlegrounds provide a detailed, researched look, at supply versus production of US artillery stocks:<\/p>\n