Top General Warns of Critical US Ammo Shortage
Top General Issues Urgent Warning About US Ammo Supplies
The commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Air Force Gen. James Hecker, delivered a stark message on Wednesday: U.S. and allied stocks of ammunition have fallen “dangerously low” and there is no sign of them returning to acceptable levels anytime soon. This warning was reported by Breaking Defense.
Speaking at the Chief of the Air Staff’s Global Air & Space Chiefs’ Conference in London, Gen. Hecker urged NATO allies to seriously consider their munitions stockpiles and the number of fighter squadrons needed to maintain a strong deterrent in Europe.
According to Gen. Hecker, the defense industry has struggled to meet the demands of American and allied forces, as well as the needs of the Ukrainian forces. He emphasized that the U.S. and the U.K. have seen a significant decline in their fighter squadrons since the days of Desert Storm, and the situation has been exacerbated by the provision of munitions to Ukraine.
Despite providing Ukraine with over $41 billion in weapons and warfighting aid since the Russian invasion, the U.S. is now facing a shortage of ammunition. The Pentagon has had to draw from existing stocks to support Ukraine’s artillery-heavy battles.
Ukraine received cluster munitions from the USA
“We just received them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can radically change the situation [on the battlefield],” said Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria operational-strategic group of troops. All the details… pic.twitter.com/hO5mOLFuK4
— Lew Anno Suport #Ukraine 24/2-22 (@anno1540) July 13, 2023
Gen. Hecker stressed the importance of assessing the weapons state across the 32 nations of NATO and acknowledged the need to address the decline in stocks. The recent decision by the Biden administration to include controversial cluster munitions in the aid package to Ukraine was driven, in part, by a lack of alternatives in U.S. stocks.
While efforts are being made to boost production of 155mm rounds, Gen. Hecker emphasized the need to build a bridge until that capacity is sufficient to support Ukraine’s artillery fight on a month-to-month basis.
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