What they are running out of are precision munitions.
I bet we still have warehouses full of old fashioned dumb bombs.
Use them.
I bet we still have warehouses full of old fashioned dumb bombs.
Use them.
More trouble than they are worth. And adapting current aircraft to them would not work out well.
We have been using them in pretty large numbers since Gulf War I, where we figured out they were just not good enough. In the late 90's we developed a bolt-on kit that converts our old 500, 1,000 and 2,000 lb "dumb" bombs to "smart" bombs, known as JDAMs.
I would think the Admiral is including JDAMs in his warning, but it's possible we have plenty of bombs and just need to purchase more guidance kits to upgrade them.
That presents two problems.
First, they are inherently much less accurate than the guided ones and it will require probably 20x as many to even approach the same effectiveness on a target and that will cut even further into our basic war stocks. Second, our aircrews are not nearly as well trained in dropping these dumb bombs as they used to be, so their tactical accuracy will be even worse than years ago when we used them almost exclusively and guys ere well trained in their use.
It is better, cheaper, and more effective to ramp up the production of the guidance packages (or the bomb bodies if that is where the shortage lies) if that can be done. If not, carefully ration the existing bombs for essential uses only and use other munitions when possible until more stocks become available. Until then, our overall effectiveness on the battlefield will be degraded somewhat.
No doubt we can thank Obama and his nincompoop DOD for the shortages. As usual, the policies of this wretched man and the Democrat Party will continue to unnecessarily cost more American lives and a degraded military structure for quite some years yet. It will take time to fix this.