Us ammo stockpile12/18/2023 ![]() ![]() Ukraine is using thousands of artillery shells as it tries to retake territory occupied by Russia – far more than Israel would use in a ground incursion into Gaza – but US and western stockpiles have been diminished by the need to supply Ukraine. The US moved hundreds of thousands of munitions out of its reserves in Israel earlier this year as the US and its allies were searching the world for ammunition to provide to Ukraine, prompting concerns among Defense Department officials and crystallizing the challenges the US faces as it grapples with two wars abroad, according to a source familiar with discussions. That stockpile is not as robust as it once was, however. The request was immediately approved by former President Barack Obama, and the equipment was pulled from US reserve stockpiles in Israel. In 2014, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urgently requested ammunition for tanks and other equipment as Israel’s last ground incursion into Gaza dragged on. The sudden ferocity of fighting in Gaza will put Israel front and center at the meeting, officials said, with one describing it as “the most important contact group we’ve ever had.” CQ Brown are in Belgium for a meeting of the contact group, an organization of about 50 countries, including Israel, that has come together to supply Ukraine. ![]() ![]() The possibility of a ground invasion and the demands it may place on the US industrial base come as Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Israel front and center at Ukraine meeting “We’re going to do what’s necessary to help our allies and partners, and we’re going to also do what’s necessary to make sure that we maintain the capability to protect our interests and defend our country.” “We can do both and we will do both,” said Austin on Tuesday at a press conference in Brussels, when asked whether the US can support both Israel and Ukraine militarily. ![]() For months, the US has been working to expand its own defense industrial base to supply Ukraine and replenish US and western stockpiles, but those efforts are still ongoing.ĭefense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the ability of the US to support both Ukraine and Israel, as the US announced another $200 million in security assistance for Kyiv, including artillery ammunition. On Monday, a senior defense official said the Pentagon is contacting US arms manufacturers to speed up existing Israeli orders for military equipment that may have been considered less urgent just days ago. Initial US intelligence suggests Iran was surprised by the Hamas attack on Israel Rockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City are intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome defense missile system in the early hours of October 8. The Pentagon’s Joint Staff and Transportation Command have been working around the clock since Hamas launched its war on Israel last weekend to identify extra stores of munitions around the world and how to move them to Israel quickly, officials said. Israel has its own capable industrial base and produces many of its own advanced weapons, but a prolonged ground campaign could drain the country’s stockpiles, officials said. Concern is growing within the Pentagon over the potential need to stretch its increasingly scarce ammunition stockpiles to support Ukraine and Israel in two separate wars, according to multiple US defense officials.Īt the moment Ukraine and Israel require different weapons: Ukraine wants massive amounts of artillery ammunition while Israel has requested precision guided aerial munitions and Iron Dome interceptors.īut if Israel launches a ground incursion into Gaza, the Israeli military will create a new and entirely unexpected demand for 155mm artillery ammunition and other weapons at a time when the US and its allies and partners have been stretched thin from more than 18 months of fighting in Ukraine. ![]()
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