IN-DEPTH: US Munitions Stockpile Too Low to Defend in War Over Taiwan: Officials

As Russian paratroopers descended on Kyiv and attempted to seize Antonov Airport, U.S. officials offered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a lifeline. Western leaders could guarantee him safe passage if he fled immediately.

Zelenskyy famously retorted that he needed ammunition, “not a ride.”

In the 15 months since, the United States has spent tens of billions of dollars giving Zelenskyy and embattled Ukraine just that. Now, officials say, the nation has depleted its own stores of critical munitions so severely that it would likely be incapable of fighting a major war.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth has said that U.S. munitions production capacity is pushed to the “absolute edge.”

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley has said that the nation “has a long ways to go” to replenish its sorely depleted stockpiles.

One unnamed Pentagon official allegedly told The Wall Street Journal that the nation’s stores of critical artillery rounds were “uncomfortably low” as early as August 2022.

The Pentagon declined to provide an update to The Epoch Times on the status of its current munition stockpiles, with one spokesperson saying that providing any specifics on the matter could jeopardize “operational security.”

However, the spokesperson suggested that the United States is making great strides to rebuild what has been lost.

“Of note, the department has enabled a rapid increase in 155mm ammo production, from approximately 14,000 a month in February 2022 to over 20,000 a month more recently, with plans to produce more than 70,000 a month in 2025,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

“This represents a 500 percent increase.”

There’s a problem with the Pentagon’s rosy outlook on its quickly dwindling stockpiles: Even with a 500 percent increase in production by 2027, the nation would still only be halfway to keeping afloat.

That’s because, by the end of August 2022, the United States had already sent more than 800,000 155mm artillery rounds to Ukraine. That number has since increased to more than 2 million, according to a fact sheet provided to The Epoch Times by the Pentagon.

That’s a rate of more than 130,000 rounds per month, which is nearly twice as much as the proposed production rate of 70,000 that the Pentagon hopes to achieve in five years.

US Struggles With Production

To be sure, the Pentagon has taken steps to stop the hemorrhaging of its critical munitions stocks. Most notably, it has taken, wherever possible, to purchasing ammunition for Ukraine from other countries rather than stripping its own stores.

How long the current balance can be kept is open for debate. Allied stockpiles aren’t infinite either, and some partners are already thinking about their own security concerns.

For example, key ally South Korea has refused requests to sell munitions to the United States, citing concern about North Korean aggression.

Now, the U.S. is going so far as to pull equipment from units stationed in Israel and South Korea to adequately supply Ukraine without emptying its stockpiles.

Likewise, the U.S. Army is now seeking $18 billion from Congress to expand and modernize its munitions production capabilities over the course of the next 15 years. Wormuth said the effort will help to replenish the more than $20 billion in lethal aid already delivered to Ukraine directly from U.S. stockpiles.

Even that may not be enough, however.

READ MORE HERE