As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, Biden keeps sending military equipment and ammunition to Ukraine. There is no end in sight, and Biden has even said as much.
Yet here in the United States, arms manufacturers can’t keep up with demand, and our own armed forces are already running dangerously low.
At what point does someone in Washington step up and demand that our own national defense is at risk?
Jed Babbin writes at the American Spectator:
Biden has sent roughly one-third of our Javelin anti-tank missiles and one third of our Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. Ukraine is expending those weapons and others faster than we can manufacture them.
We normally produce between 1,000 and 2,100 Javelins each year. The Army is trying to get industry to up the rate to 4,000 each year. Faint hope.
By some estimates, Ukraine is firing six to seven thousand 155 mm artillery shells every day. At that rate, they could expend the entirety of Britain’s stockpile of NATO-standard 155 mm shells in just eight days. Ammunition for the U.S. HIMARS (high-mobility artillery rocket system) and other munitions are also being expended at tremendous rates.
The problem we are having is that, despite some efforts to stimulate production in the U.S., the supply is lagging far behind the demand.
According to a Center for Strategic and International Studies report I mentioned last week, some credible estimates are that we would run out of ammunition — missiles, artillery shells, etc. — in one week if the Chinese attacked Taiwan at this point and if — a big “if” — Biden decided to defend Taiwan. He has said we would do so four times and each time his cabinet has assured the Taiwanese that we hadn’t changed our “One China” policy, which means we wouldn’t defend Taiwan.
The problem is greatly exacerbated by supply chain problems. A friend of mine who is the CEO of a medium-sized aerospace firm that produces, among other things, radar systems told me that parts he orders today can’t be delivered for at least eighteen months.