[Goose]

Question: I think Biden said recently that the U.S. was running out of ammunition, so we are there sending cluster munitions. Does that concern anyone? It seems kind of ominous, but I didn't see it mentioned here (sorry if I missed it). Is this an issue we should be worried about?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/07/politics/...index.html

The ammunition being shipped to Ukraine has significantly depleted our stocks. We are not "running out of ammunition" because today we aren't fighting anyone. However, if tomorrow we were, running out of ammunition could be a "concern", although the US today has significantly reduced it's dependence on tube artillery. The Marines in particular have shed essentially all of it. The administration is faced with the decision to either greatly increase production of 155 mm HE rounds (which takes time and money) or just let our more-or-less "normal" production rate refill our stock. Every year, a significant part of our artillery rounds pass there "use by" date and are replaced. In around 8-10 years it normally turns over. The specs say 15 years (I think), but the Army is "conservative". We are just sending that ammo to Ukraine and would replace it "eventually".

The second part of the problem is that Ukraine continually needs resupply, and they are going to need more to conduct an offensive. Thus the demand on our supply is not going away, but rather increasing. This fact will, IMO compell the Army to go on a massive near-term procurement. Sending DPICM to Ukraine will mitigate but not remove this problem.

IMO the "real truth" is that the supply problem is a bit of a "work around" for the fact that Ukraine needs DPICM to attack the Russian trenches. It is the "right" weapon for that task. Lots of people don't want to acknowledge that truth, but truth it is. The supply problem is real. Nobody is telling lies. But that is not the reason. It is an excuse/justification for doing what should have been done a while back. It's not like Ukraine hasn't been asking.

[Goose]

Question: I think Biden said recently that the U.S. was running out of ammunition, so we are there sending cluster munitions. Does that concern anyone? It seems kind of ominous, but I didn't see it mentioned here (sorry if I missed it). Is this an issue we should be worried about?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/07/politics/...index.html

The ammunition being shipped to Ukraine has significantly depleted our stocks. We are not "running out of ammunition" because today we aren't fighting anyone. However, if tomorrow we were, running out of ammunition could be a "concern", although the US today has significantly reduced it's dependence on tube artillery. The Marines in particular have shed essentially all of it. The administration is faced with the decision to either greatly increase production of 155 mm HE rounds (which takes time and money) or just let our more-or-less "normal" production rate refill our stock. Every year, a significant part of our artillery rounds pass there "use by" date and are replaced. In around 8-10 years it normally turns over. The specs say 15 years (I think), but the Army is "conservative". We are just sending that ammo to Ukraine and would replace it "eventually".

The second part of the problem is that Ukraine continually needs resupply, and they are going to need more to conduct an offensive. Thus the demand on our supply is not going away, but rather increasing. This fact will, IMO compell the Army to go on a massive near-term procurement. Sending DPICM to Ukraine will mitigate but not remove this problem.

IMO the "real truth" is that the supply problem is a bit of a "work around" for the fact that Ukraine needs DPICM to attack the Russian trenches. It is the "right" weapon for that task. Lots of people don't want to acknowledge that truth, but truth it is. The supply problem is real. Nobody is telling lies. But that is not the reason. It is an excuse/justification for doing what should have been done a while back. It's not like Ukraine hasn't been asking.