U.S. intel chief says Russia is using up ammunition in Ukraine faster than it can replace it

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Putin is using his stockpiles

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/europe/us-intel-chief-russia-using-ammo-ukraine-faster-can-replace-rcna59847?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_lw

Russian forces in Ukraine are burning through ammunition faster than the country’s defense industry can replace it, U.S. National Intelligence Director Avril Haines said Saturday.

Russia is using up ammunition “quite quickly,” prompting Moscow to look to other countries for help, including North Korea, Haines told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell at a panel at the Reagan Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

Asked how fast Russia was using up ammunition, Haines said: “I don’t think I can give you precise numbers in this forum. But quite quickly. I mean, it’s really pretty extraordinary.”

She added: “And our own sense is that they are not capable of indigenously producing what they are expending at this stage.

So that is going to be a challenge.”

The Pentagon said last month that Russia is firing off a staggering 20,000 artillery rounds a day, even as it has suffered a series of setbacks on the battlefield. Echoing previous statements from Biden administration officials, Haines said that Russia was using up precision munitions even faster than its conventional ammunition.

[Marcus IM]

1. Didn't the US have this same problem with the multi nation bombing it was undertaking?

Then, special appropriations were asked for and supplied w/o question. Alway money for killing.


From 2015

The U.S. is running out of bombs to drop on ISIS

The U.S. Air Force has fired off more than 20,000 missiles and bombs since the U.S. bombing campaign against ISIS began 15 months ago, according to the Air Force, leading to depleted munitions stockpiles and calls to ramp up funding and weapons production.

As the U.S. ramps up its campaign against the Islamist terror group in Iraq and Syria, the Air Force is now “expending munitions faster than we can replenish them,” Air Force chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in a statement.

“B-1s have dropped bombs in record numbers. F-15Es are in the fight because they are able to employ a wide range of weapons and do so with great flexibility. We need the funding in place to ensure we’re prepared for the long fight,” Welsh said in the statement. “This is a critical need.”


https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/04/politics/air-force-20000-bombs-missiles-isis/index.html

Then again in 2018 ...

The US is running out of bombs — and it may soon struggle to make more

The Pentagon plans to invest more than $20 billion in munitions in its next budget. But whether the industrial base will be there to support such massive buys in the future is up in the air — at a time when America is expending munitions at increasingly intense rates.
The annual Industrial Capabilities report, put out by the Pentagon’s Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, has concluded that the industrial base of the munitions sector is particularly strained, something the report blames on the start-and-stop nature of munitions procurement over the last 20 years, as well as the lack of new designs being internally developed.

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2018/05/22/the-us-is-running-out-of-bombs-and-it-may-soon-struggle-to-make-more/

[Igel]

2. At the same time the military's been given a lot of authority over businesses.

To order things and have their orders filled first, or to say that companies must produce X instead of what they had been or would like to produce.

Military budget's been increased, but it's absolutely possible for the military to do it's own sort of half-assed cost analysis and says, "You can produce X for this many rubles each. That's what we pay. Here's the contract, sign it." And when it's pointed out that requires employees to work overtime, the military could say, "Yes, but we can require that employees not be allowed to quit and require that they work overtime. Read the law. Heil Putlin!"

Russia has the raw materials in excess for low-tech stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if China's not funneling higher-tech stuff in. And Russia's finding ways to circumvent a lot of controls--turning off oil tanker transponders and off-loading petroleum to acceptable tankers for export, for instance. The same game N. Korea played for a while (and likely still does), avoiding sanctions by having empty ships next to ships flying an acceptable flag and using fake manifests. If you can smuggle tons of fentanyl and lethal weapons internationally below most radar screens, you can smuggle whiskey and silicon chips. (Personally, I'd like some risky but successful operations to take out the main pipelines from Russia to Turkey and China. Not just in one location, but put a dozen holes in each while taking out the electrical infrastructure that keeps the petroleum heated and pressurized. But then again, I sometimes have delusions of optimism. Wait. No, it's passed. Back to Marvin-mode.)

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. Carry on, Marvin ...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. For this thread

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