The United States is escalating its confrontation with China under the guise of “deterring aggression,” while in reality reorienting its global strategy toward maintaining hegemony over Asia through destabilization, political manipulation, and military buildup.
US Sows Chaos Across Asia as it Aims for China
Tag: GMLRS
‘We can de-risk but not decouple’ from China, says Raytheon chief
Head of aerospace and defence group says western manufacturers will find it impossible to completely cut ties
‘We can de-risk but not decouple’ from China, says Raytheon chief
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Aerojet gets $215 million to boost production of solid rocket motors used in weapons for Ukraine
18+: Bloody weekend in Donbass – Ukrainian army kills five civilians and wounds 18
On 11 and 12 March 2023, the Ukrainian army shelled residential areas in the Donbass region in both the DPR and LPR (Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics) with HIMARS and Smerch multiple rocket launchers and 155 mm NATO shells, killing five civilians, including an eight-year-old child and a 17-year-old teenager, and injuring 18 other civilians, including two children.
Bloody weekend in Donbass – Ukrainian army kills five civilians and wounds 18 – Donbass Insider
Related:
Ukrainian Military Does Not Stop Shedding Blood Of Innocent Civilians In Donbass
On a daily basis, dozens of Ukrainian strikes are targeting civilian facilities, private houses, and public places in cities and villages where no battles are ongoing.
The Ukrainian military is intentionally targeting the strategic civilian facilities like grain warehouses and farms in an attempt to cause famine in the recently liberated regions; as well as public transport hubs in order to disrupt communication and transportation within the towns.
How Ukraine war has shaped US planning for a China conflict
Yes, I do think the US has an eye on instigating a conflict with China.
As the war rages on in Ukraine, the United States is doing more than supporting an ally. It’s learning lessons — with an eye toward a possible clash with China. No one knows what the next U.S. major military conflict will be or whether the U.S. will send troops — as it did in Afghanistan and Iraq — or provide vast amounts of aid and expertise, as it has done with Ukraine. But China remains America’s biggest concern. U.S. military officials say Beijing wants to be ready to invade the self-governing island of Taiwan by 2027, and the U.S. remains the island democracy’s chief ally and supplier of defense weapons.
How Ukraine war has shaped US planning for a China conflict
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U.S. and NATO scramble to arm Ukraine and refill their own arsenals
Either this narrative about weapon stockpiles, being depleted, is part of the information war or Russia is demilitarizing NATO!?!
U.S. and NATO scramble to arm Ukraine and refill their own arsenals
In Ukraine, the kind of European war thought inconceivable is chewing up the modest stockpiles of artillery, ammunition and air defenses of what some in NATO call Europe’s “bonsai armies,” after the tiny Japanese trees. Even the mighty United States has only limited stocks of the weapons the Ukrainians want and need, and Washington is unwilling to divert key weapons from delicate regions like Taiwan and Korea, where China and North Korea are constantly testing the limits.
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So the West is scrambling to find increasingly scarce Soviet-era equipment and ammunition that Ukraine can use now, including S-300 air defense missiles, T-72 tanks and especially Soviet-caliber artillery shells
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There are even discussions about NATO investing in old factories in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria to restart the manufacturing of Soviet-caliber 152-mm and 122-mm shells for Ukraine’s still largely Soviet-era artillery armory.
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The European Union has approved €3.1 billion ($3.2 billion) to repay member states for what they provide to Ukraine, but that fund, the [ironically-named] European Peace Facility, is nearly 90 percent depleted.
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Smaller countries have exhausted their potential, another NATO official said, with 20 of its 30 members “pretty tapped out.” But the remaining 10 can still provide more, he suggested, especially larger allies. That would include France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has advised the alliance — including, pointedly, Germany — that NATO guidelines requiring members to keep stockpiles should not be a pretext to limit arms exports to Ukraine. But it is also true that Germany and France, like the United States, want to calibrate the weapons Ukraine gets, to prevent escalation and direct attacks on Russia.
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Washington is also looking at older, cheaper alternatives like giving Ukraine anti-tank TOW missiles, which are in plentiful supply, instead of Javelins, and Hawk surface-to-air missiles instead of newer versions. But officials are increasingly pushing Ukraine to be more efficient and not, for example, fire a missile that costs $150,000 at a drone that costs $20,000.
US Ammunition Supplies Dwindle as Ukraine War Drains Stockpiles
The United States will soon be unable to provide Ukraine with certain types of ammunition that are essential to Kyiv’s battle against Russia’s invasion, as supplies are being used up faster than they can be replaced.
US Ammunition Supplies Dwindle as Ukraine War Drains Stockpiles
Previously:
07-24 – West Can Not Sustain Prolonged Conflict In Ukraine, Says Pentagon Supplier
09-30 – Pentagon stockpiles ‘uncomfortably low’ due to Ukraine arms transfers: DoD
10-10 – Whoops, the U.S. Sent So Many Missiles to Ukraine That It Depleted Its Own Stockpiles
Most-accurate US artillery shell Excalibur quietly added to Ukraine aid
Most-accurate US artillery shell Excalibur quietly added to Ukraine aid
The Defense Department will spend $92 million in congressionally approved supplemental funds “for procurement of replacement M982 Excalibur munitions transferred to Ukraine in support of the international effort to counter Russian aggression,” according to a budget document last month that wasn’t previously disclosed.
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“The $92 million addition to Excalibur more than doubles the program’s budget, adding about 900 projectiles in fiscal 2022, up from $56.7 million that Congress approved this fiscal year,” according to Mark Cancian, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who’s monitoring Ukraine-related spending.
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“This also confirms what had long been suspected, that the United States is providing this advanced weapon to Ukraine,” Cancian said. Each round currently cost from $98,700 to $106,400 in fiscal 2021 and 2022 dollars depending on the quantities purchased, according to Army budget documents.
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In addition to the previously undisclosed Excalibur, the budget documents also spell out supplies of well-known items such as conventional 155mm artillery rounds, Javelin anti-armor and Stinger anti-air missiles, the HIMARS mobile rocket system and its Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, missiles. There are also smaller purchases of MK-19 grenade launchers, “precision sniper rifles” and “spotting scopes” and “replacement battery coolant units” for Stingers.
Biden Authorizes Additional $550 Million Military Aid for Ukraine + Are There Enough Guided Rockets For HIMARS To Keep Up With Ukraine War Demand?
Biden Authorizes Additional $550 Million Military Aid for Ukraine
The new aid was authorized by the presidential drawdown authority, which allows Biden to send Ukraine weapons and ammunition directly from US military stockpiles. The funds were pulled from the $40 billion Ukraine aid bill that Biden signed back in May, which is meant to last through September 30.
Related:
Are There Enough Guided Rockets For HIMARS To Keep Up With Ukraine War Demand?
So in essence, at a pace suggested by Hertling, Ukraine’s GMLRS monthly burn rate would equal about 29% of the entire planned U.S. procurement for the next five years, not withstanding production rates of the ER GMLRS which have yet to be set.
Given those numbers, what does Ukraine’s use of HIMARS portend for that nation, and the U.S., which might find itself needing these systems in case of a future fight with China, Russia or some other adversary?
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“If each of 16 HIMARS fires three rockets per day, that’s 48 a day or 1,440 per month. 10,000 rockets would last well into 2023 at that rate. On the other hand, if the Ukrainians get the 100 HIMARS they are requesting and each one fires three rockets per day, that’s 300 per day or 9,000 per month.”
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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