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Ukraine War Is Depleting U.S. Ammunition Stockpiles, Sparking Pentagon Concern
Wall Street Journal ^ | 09/09/2022 | By Gordon Lubold, Nancy A. Youssef and Ben Kesling

Posted on 09/09/2022 8:44:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

WASHINGTON—The war in Ukraine has depleted American stocks of some types of ammunition and the Pentagon has been slow to replenish its arsenal, sparking concerns among U.S. officials that American military readiness could be jeopardized by the shortage.

The U.S. has during the past six months supplied Ukraine with 16 U.S. rocket launchers, known as Himars, thousands of guns, drones, missiles and other equipment. Much of that, including ammunition, has come directly from U.S. inventory, depleting stockpiles intended for unexpected threats, defense officials say.

One of the most lethal weapons the Pentagon has sent are howitzers that fire high-explosive 155mm ammunition weighing about 100 pounds each and able to accurately hit targets dozens of miles away. As of Aug. 24, the U.S. military said it had provided Ukraine with up to 806,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition. The U.S. military has declined to say how many rounds it had at the start of the year.

In recent weeks, the level of 155mm combat rounds in U.S. military storage have become “uncomfortably low,” one defense official said. The levels aren’t yet critical because the U.S. isn’t engaged in any major military conflict, the official added. “It is not at the level we would like to go into combat,” the defense official said.

The U.S. military used a howitzer as recently as last week to strike at Iranian-backed groups in Syria, and the depletion of 155mm ammunition is increasingly concerning for a military that seeks to plan for any scenario.

The Army said the military is now conducting “an ammunitions industrial base deep dive” to determine how to support Ukraine while protecting “our own supply needs.” The Army said it also asked Capitol Hill for $500 million a year in upgrade efforts for the Army’s ammunition plants.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: 1world; 1worldorder; ammunition; chechens; chechnya; chicomslaughing; concerntroll; concerntrolls; deathtochechnya; deathtoputin; deathtorussia; debt; deficit; dodindustrialcomplex; fridiots4demwars; fridiots4putin; fridiots4putinswars; globohomo; hateamericafirst; inflation; liberalworlsorder; pedosforputin; putinlovertrollsonfr; putinsbuttboys; putinworshippers; russia; russianaggression; russiansuicide; scottritter; stockpile; ukraine; usdemilitarization; vladtheimploder; warpimps; zottherussiantrolls
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To: Tai_Chung
Too bad they didn’t take all those weapons from Afghanistan

How many 155 MM rounds did we abandon to the Taliban when we bugged out of Afghanistan?

61 posted on 09/09/2022 11:49:09 PM PDT by CDB
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To: Jonty30

New Biden military strategy: Ask the enemy combatants twice by bullhorns if they will lay down their weapons. Only fire if they say no again.


62 posted on 09/09/2022 11:49:18 PM PDT by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: hardspunned

16 HIMARS with lower end missiles, and something over 100 M777’s with mostly lower end ammo, is barely a drop in the bucket.

Inject 200 M777-ER’s with the 70km guided ammo and get back to us.


63 posted on 09/09/2022 11:54:02 PM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Must continue to double and triple down to feed the beast.
It’s morally and ethically the right thing to do yeah?
I mean geez, neo-Nazi lives matter more than those of mad Putin’s Russian lives. Get with the program.

/s


64 posted on 09/09/2022 11:55:12 PM PDT by cranked
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To: Paul R.

A few ammunition depots and ripping up of the pavement of a couple bridges.

Them US wonder weapons making a hell of a destruction display of the Russians. Get back to me when they do actually make a dent on actual Russian forces other than pin=pricking a bridge here and there and a few ammunition depots, k?


65 posted on 09/09/2022 11:57:03 PM PDT by cranked
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBm1n5yNVO4

Scott Ritter:

The equipment we have provided them and NATO as well is all being destroyed right now. The rest of the story on the offensive is the offensive is over. The Russians are counter attacking; they are slaughtering the Ukrainians. Russia will regain all of the lost territory in the next couple days and Ukraine will have succeeded only in losing the reserves that they took months building up. This is one of the most foolish military moves in modern history...purely political in nature and so far it has cost Ukraine around six thousand KILLED IN ACTION!

A huge convoy of ambulances in Kiev. Filmed yesterday. The results of the AFU offensive. And this is Kiev. What about Dnipropetrovsk, Nikolaev, and Odessa? The answer is that there are not enough places in hospitals, and they take them to the capital and other cities.

https://t.me/ssigny/41597 (video)


66 posted on 09/09/2022 11:58:11 PM PDT by Cathi
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To: Paul R.

Also, get back to me when them M777s are dropping 40000-60000 rounds of artillery shells in a day, as the Russians are doing........


67 posted on 09/09/2022 11:58:48 PM PDT by cranked
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To: Peter ODonnell

I Really hope you are right sir ... I watched videos 15 years ago of the Chinese training thousands of five-year-olds in the neighborhoods they were proud of it those videos all disappeared about 10 years ago the Chinese potential women’s of age call up army is 320 million... They had those videos about a year ago they were videos of Chinese soldiers about 18 or 19 years old eating live animals bragging and showing off that they could eat almost anything.. Those videos have also been removed.... Few years ago they were videos of Chinese and Russian manufacturing facilities in south America and Mexico those videos were also removed....idk but ... Depletion of our oil reserve depletion of our military reserve sending our military all over the world to fight 85,000 new IRS agents I don’t like all this stuff adds up


68 posted on 09/10/2022 12:01:08 AM PDT by Therapsid (eagan )
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To: SeekAndFind

“...but it hasn’t signed new contracts to account for the higher amounts it will need to replenish its stocks, according to Army officials.”

Most likely they’re seeing the 3 to 5 year lead times and asking ‘why bother’ when there will be a new president anyway.


69 posted on 09/10/2022 12:01:48 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 37 degrees...time to fire up those heaters. Oh, never mind.)
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To: Jonty30

“I think that is basically the plan.
Deplete US military supplies and then China invades Taiwan.”

When one considers how ANTI-WAR the Ukraine Cheerleaders have been from the start (I knew many of that type in college), what you say is likely right.


70 posted on 09/10/2022 12:04:37 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 37 degrees...time to fire up those heaters. Oh, never mind.)
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To: Jonty30

“I think that is basically the plan.
Deplete US military supplies and then China invades Taiwan.”

When one considers how ANTI-WAR the Ukraine Cheerleaders have been from the start (I knew many of that type in college), what you say is likely right.


71 posted on 09/10/2022 12:04:39 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 37 degrees...time to fire up those heaters. Oh, never mind.)
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To: Gunslingr3

“Of the all the things I’d worry about, the last thing I worry about is Congress letting the MIC go hungry.”

Considering that soldiers were on food stamps when Reagan got elected, due to Military-HATING Leftists running the country, I wouldn’t be so certain that they’ll get funded anywhere near the levels needed for national security...as this article is showing.


72 posted on 09/10/2022 12:06:26 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 37 degrees...time to fire up those heaters. Oh, never mind.)
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To: Gunslingr3

“Of the all the things I’d worry about, the last thing I worry about is Congress letting the MIC go hungry.”

Considering that soldiers were on food stamps when Reagan got elected, due to Military-HATING Leftists running the country, I wouldn’t be so certain that they’ll get funded anywhere near the levels needed for national security...as this article is showing.


73 posted on 09/10/2022 12:06:27 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 37 degrees...time to fire up those heaters. Oh, never mind.)
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To: Arcadian Empire

“America is imperiling its own defense capabilities by sending weapons to Ukraine.”

Thanks to our idiocy in Ukraine, a war in Korea will now go nuclear in under a month, and we’ll be at that risk for several years.

Hope our nukes still work!


74 posted on 09/10/2022 12:09:28 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 37 degrees...time to fire up those heaters. Oh, never mind.)
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To: max americana

“Well, at least it doesn’t go to 87000 IRS agents..”

Or get dropped on Serbia again.


75 posted on 09/10/2022 12:10:25 AM PDT by BobL (By the way, low tonight in Estonia: 37 degrees...time to fire up those heaters. Oh, never mind.)
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To: cranked
You're making my point for me. Except for Stingers and Javelins, and similar Euro weapons (which have been fairly effective at what they are made for), we've really not sent squat.

Therefor any dismissal of the value of our more advanced heavy weaponry, should it be significantly brought to bear, which was the point being addressed, is premature, to put it kindly.

That said, those 40-60k of artillery shells would fall about 40 km short of M777-ER's picking off the Russian howitzers with guided munitions.

76 posted on 09/10/2022 12:22:04 AM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
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To: Paul R.

Again, range is immaterial when you have no massed HIMARs or M777s, all of which can be tracked back to their locations and destroyed.

Of those 16 HIMARs sent, half have been destroyed to boot as with a significant number of M777s, which a couple are on display in a museum in Moscow.


77 posted on 09/10/2022 12:24:18 AM PDT by cranked
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To: BobL

If a war in Korea goes nuclear, it will be Kimmy who does it. You apparently have entirely missed what’s going on with S. Korea’s defense industry...


78 posted on 09/10/2022 12:33:09 AM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
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To: cranked
Can't you read? I said "significantly brought to bear. I even freaking underlined it.

BTW, several of the destroyed HIMARS were decoys.

I suggest less vodka.

79 posted on 09/10/2022 12:37:35 AM PDT by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
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To: Paul R.

One was sold to the Russians by a Ukrainian.
And despite the claims of wooden decoys, etc., others have outright been destroyed....8 of them to be exact.

I dont drink vodka.
In fact, I dont drink at all.
Try something else?
I do like popcorn.


80 posted on 09/10/2022 12:40:11 AM PDT by cranked
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