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

Biden Details New $625 Million Arms Package for Ukraine in Zelensky Call

Biden Details New $625 Million Arms Package for Ukraine in Zelensky Call

The new $625 million package is being provided through the presidential drawdown authority, which allows Biden to send arms to Ukraine directly from US military stockpiles. A stopgap funding bill President Biden signed into law last week included $3.7 billion for this authority. It also included $12.3 billion for other military and economic aid for Ukraine, bringing total US spending on the war to about $67.5 billion, a number that’s higher than Russia’s entire military budget for 2021.

New $1.1 Billion Arms Package for Ukraine Includes 18 HIMARS Launchers, as The U.S. and Europe are running out of weapons to send to Ukraine

New $1.1 Billion Arms Package for Ukraine Includes 18 HIMARS Launchers

The HIMARS that the US has been sending to Ukraine are equipped with missiles that have a range of about 50 miles. But that can change, and Kyiv is requesting Army Tactical Missile Systems, which have a range of 190 miles, but Washington has been hesitant to send the longer-range missiles. Russia has warned that providing such arms would cross a “red line.”

Related:

The U.S. and Europe are running out of weapons to send to Ukraine

In the U.S. weapons industry, the normal production level for artillery rounds for the 155 millimeter howitzer — a long-range heavy artillery weapon currently used on the battlefields of Ukraine — is about 30,000 rounds per year in peacetime.

The Ukrainian soldiers fighting invading Russian forces go through that amount in roughly two weeks.

Is the U.S. ability to defend itself at risk?

The short answer: no.

The U.S. has essentially run out of the 155 mm howitzers [M777?] to give to Ukraine; to send any more, it would have to dip into its own stocks reserved for U.S. military units that use them for training and readiness. But that’s a no-go for the Pentagon, military analysts say, meaning the supplies reserved for U.S. operations are highly unlikely to be affected.

Source: CSIS.

New Fakes about Russia-DPRK Military Cooperation

New Fakes about Russia-DPRK Military Cooperation

The second option is more amusing and, alas, more realistic: the source of the sensational information could be such an anonymous and specific medium as Russian politicized Telegram channels, in which the SMO is constantly discussed. However, Telegram’s anonymity often makes it impossible to identify the channel’s real author. This means that any high-school student with a glib tongue can easily portray himself as an “expert from those very structures” involved in the “secrets of the Kremlin court”, even if the information has no real basis in fact.

To conclude the conversation, it is worth noting how the propaganda image of the DPRK has changed: before the SMO, the Western media presented North Korea as a starving third-world country, but now it is a superpower providing Putin with builders, soldiers and now also ammunition. Therefore, the fake about millions of missiles is clearly not the latest fake about the “Jucheans in the Donbass”.

US Ammunition Running Low for Ukraine, No Quick Fix for Shortage

Sep 15, 2022 – The Western media based on US Army market surveys is taking notice of critical shortages of munitions among US stockpiles and what is available to send Ukraine.

The shortages undoubtedly have and will continue to manifest themselves on the battlefield in the form of Ukrainian forces being constantly outgunned.

US Ammunition Running Low for Ukraine, No Quick Fix for Shortage via The New Atlas (Odysse channel)

As he arms Ukraine, Biden readies new weapon pipelines for Eastern Europe

Top U.S. officials on Thursday unveiled $2.8 billion in new military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and Eastern European allies, marking a shift from just-in-time weapons transfers to Ukraine to a longer-term effort to equip nations all across NATO’s eastern front.

“At some point, particularly if House Republicans win in the elections, I don’t know how we do this in December or in January, it’s going to be really, really difficult,” to get more aid packages passed, one Republican staffer admitted. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive political matters.

“If there were a war in the Taiwan Strait right now, [there are] very serious concerns the U.S. would have sufficient munitions for any kind of prolonged conflict,” Jones said. “The industrial base right now is being severely tested.”

Thursday’s transfer will pull more material from those stockpiles, including artillery and armored vehicles, bringing total U.S. drawdowns to $8.6 billion, and leaving about $2.9 billion left from the overall amount that Congress authorized to be sent to Ukraine in May. The Pentagon will need to use the funds by the end of this fiscal year on Sept. 30 or else require a waiver from Congress to extend the authority.

As he arms Ukraine, Biden readies new weapon pipelines for Eastern Europe

Related:

Most-accurate US artillery shell Excalibur quietly added to Ukraine aid