U.S. Secretary of Defense Mattis Personally Intervened To Increase The Purchase Of Munitions

Senior Airman Daniel Stehley, of the 20th Equipment Maintenance Squadron munitions flight, spray paints build codes on inert guided bomb units after helping assemble each weapon at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., on Feb. 27, 2012. Senior Airman Kenny Holston, U.S. Air Force

Defense News: Mattis intervened to increase munition buy in FY18 budget request

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis personally intervened to increase the number of munitions being bought in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2018 budget request, pushing procurement of six specific weapons to the maximum production rate industry can handle, a top DoD official said Tuesday.

The Pentagon is requesting roughly $3.5 billion for “preferred munitions,” as part of a plan to replenish stocks being used as part of the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group, commonly known as ISIS or ISIL.

But that wasn’t always the plan, said John Roth, the acting undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer. Speaking to reporters during the Pentagon’s budget roll-out, Roth said those programs were given a last-minute boost from Mattis himself.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The problem of running out of munitions is nothing new .... U.S. Military Running Out Of Bombs And Other Munitions In The War Against The Islamic State (February 17, 2017).

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.”

Read more ....

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.

Pentagon Plans To Destroy More Than $1 Billion Worth Of Ammunition. Soldiers Recommend That All Of It Should Be Used On A Firing Range

U.S. soldiers conduct live- and blank-fire training at Fort Campbell, Ky., in April 2014. Jon Heinrich/U.S. Army

Officers Testify About 'Mad Minute' Of Intense Fire -- Stars and Stripes/USA Today

Troops call it the "mad minute," a short period of intense fire.

Three infantry officers — reacting to a USA TODAY story about Pentagon problems counting its bullets — recalled their own mad-minute experiences on the firing range at the end of budget cycles.

They took their troops to the range and had them blow through their remaining ammunition. The exercises achieved two aims: Young soldiers and Marines gained proficiency with their weapons, and the mad minutes ensured that not a single bullet was left over. If too many units had surplus ammunition at the end of the year, the officers said, their brigade or division could be issued fewer bullets the following year.

Read more ....

Previous Post: Pentagon Plans To Destroy More Than $1 Billion Worth Of Ammunition

My Comment: Using up all of your assigned ammo on a firing range makes too much sense for the Pentagon .... but destroying it does. Sighhhh .... you just cannot make this up.

Pentagon Plans To Destroy More Than $1 Billion Worth Of Ammunition

Photo: Reuters

Report: Pentagon To Destroy $1B In Ammunition -- USA Today

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to destroy more than $1 billion worth of ammunition although some of those bullets and missiles could still be used by troops, according to the Pentagon and congressional sources.

It's impossible to know what portion of the arsenal slated for destruction — valued at $1.2 billion by the Pentagon — remains viable because the Defense Department's inventory systems can't share data effectively, according to a Government Accountability Office report obtained by USA TODAY.

The result: potential waste of unknown value.

Read more ....

My Comment: Someone in the Pentagon should talk to US Homeland Security .... 1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security? It's Time For A National Conversation -- Forbes

What Is The Life Cycle Of An Army 7.62mm Bullet?

Readied, Aimed, Fired: To Helmand And Back -- The Telegraph

From factory to firefight, what is the life cycle of an Army bullet?

In the heat of a Helmand summer, we sit cross-legged on the floor drinking tea with Afghan elders and British soldiers. Suddenly, the crack of a bullet shatters the afternoon calm. Then comes another shot, and another, until the rat-tat-tat of a gun battle perhaps a mile or so away sounds clearly over the flat, parched land.

My cameraman and I look for a higher vantage point to film from, expecting the unit we are with to be called in to help the patrol that’s come under fire. Instead, everyone goes on drinking tea. Later, we learn that insurgents had ambushed the patrol, but that the soldiers had enough fire-power to defend themselves.

Read more ....

My Comment: In short .... making bullets is a big and complicated business.

U.S. To Buy Ammunition From Russia?

Russian Trader Rosoboronexport Bids to Sell Ammunition To U.S. -- Bloomberg Businesweek

Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-run weapons trader, said it’s bidding to sell ammunition to the U.S. armed forces.

Five suppliers competing for a U.S. military contract have invited Rosoboronexport to act as a sub-contractor, the Moscow- based company said today in an e-mailed statement. The ammunition would be used in international coalition operations, it said.

Read more ....

Update: US may be buying Russian bullets in the future -- Examiner

My Comment: This is not going to happen.

Why Is There An Ammo Shortage

The Ammo Shortage Continues -- Pajamas Media

Why are manufacturers still unable to meet demand?

Scan the ammunition shelves at sporting goods stores, your local gun store, or even Walmart and odds are that you won’t find what you are looking for. The most common cartridges are in short supply, and many stores ration ammunition a box or two at a time to spread their meager stock among their customers.

This isn’t new. But why is this nationwide ammunition shortage still happening?

Read more ....

My Comment: Makes sense to me.

In Search Of A Better Bullet

Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, take cover behind a berm after receiving small-arms fire on Feb. 13 in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan. MARINE CORPS

Mattis Pushed For 6.8mm Ammo -- Marine Times

Before Marines in Afghanistan received enhanced 5.56mm rounds last month, an influential four-star general advocated behind the scenes for an option that packs even more punch: 6.8mm ammunition.

Three sources with knowledge of the Marine Corps’ acquisitions process confirmed Gen. James Mattis’ interest in the 6.8mm round, saying the head of Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., lobbied for it as recently as December while pushing broadly for better service-rifle ammo.

Read more ....

My Comment: What caught my eye in this report is in the second to last paragraph.

Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command, told Marine Corps Times in mid-February that “there’s a long-going argument about the stopping power of 5.56 in general.” But he said even Marines don’t always fall after they’ve been shot by insurgents with multiple 7.62mm rounds, citing Navy Cross recipient Sgt. Maj. Brad Kasal, who was hit with seven 7.62mm rounds in Iraq in 2004 but survived and kept fighting.

Wow ... being hit 7 times but still able to fight .... that's one tough (and lucky to be alive) soldier.

The U.S. Marines Are To Get Better Bullets In Afghanistan

Marines zero their service rifles on a 36-yard firing range.
(Photo by Lance Cpl. Bobby J. Yarbrough).

Corps To Use More Lethal Ammo In Afghanistan -- Navy Times

The Marine Corps is dropping its conventional 5.56mm ammunition in Afghanistan in favor of new deadlier, more accurate rifle rounds, and could field them at any time.

The open-tipped rounds until now have been available only to Special Operations Command troops. The first 200,000 5.56mm Special Operations Science and Technology rounds are already downrange with Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, said Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command. Commonly known as “SOST” rounds, they were legally cleared for Marine use by the Pentagon in late January, according to Navy Department documents obtained by Marine Corps Times.

Read more ....

My Comment: The US marines are good shots right now .... I suspect that these bullets will not only give them better range, but it will be more effective to take down the enemy with one shot instead of a few.