The U.S. Military Is Using Bombs At A Rate That Is Faster Than What Can Be Replaced

Aviation ordinancemen organize 1000 pound MK-83 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) bombs on their racks on the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier in this archival photo taken in the northern Persian Gulf March 18, 2003. Credit: Paul Hanna/Reuters

PRI: The US is dropping bombs quicker than it can make them

Ongoing air wars in Middle East have caused an unexpected dip in the Pentagon’s stockpile of air-to-ground munitions — and Washington has been slow to address the supply problem.

The Pentagon has had months to deal with it.

“We're expending munitions faster than we can replenish them,” USA Today quoted Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh as saying in December.

Since then Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has asked Congress to include funding for 45,000 smart bombs in the Defense Department’s 2017 budget. But it could take a while to rebuild the stockpile.

“The US maintains a pretty steady inventory of bombs and missiles for full-on war scenarios,” says Roman Schweizer, aerospace and defense policy analyst at Guggenheim Securities in Washington. “But 2 1/2 years of fighting ISIS and continued bombing in Afghanistan have exceeded weapons-use projections.”

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WNU Editor: This is revealing .... there is a request for 45,000 smart bombs in the Defense Department’s 2017 budget .... hmmmm .... it looks like the Pentagon is foreseeing more wars and conflicts in the future.