[Goose]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-unli...01968.html

No surprise here. The "military industrial complex" hasn't been robust for quite some years. Some "big" players have done very well financially but also have definitely under-performed in what they actually delivered. These organizations are at least as sclerotic as the US procurement system. Of course nobody has actually decided this situation is dangerous. Fixing it isn't even on the table. We can take some solace in the fact Europe is, in general, worse.

Best quote from the article:

For months, the US has run into the limits of its ability to replenish its own weapons inventories, which limited what the Biden administration has been able to send Ukraine. The US has been growing its capacity to produce critical munitions, such as 155mm artillery shells, since virtually the beginning of the war nearly three years ago, but the ramp up in production is not yet complete.

Three Years! This effort is targeted to producing one million plus rounds a year. As a reference, "As an example, Allied guns fired 2,710,248 rounds in June, 1953, and 2,000,982 rounds in July 1953". Even after the three year effort, we are nowhere near the ability to replicate what was done in 1953. It is true the US does not intend to rely on tube artillery nearly as much as we did previously. The USAF and systems like the MLRS reduce our dependence on artillery. However, that only works if we have "enough" of that. We no longer even make the MLRS cluster munitions that were used so effectively in Desert Storm.

The article https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals...gs-Change/ IMO contains some important insights into the problems.  From this article, published in 2023:

Simplifying this analysis to only 155 mm rounds means the 2022 daily average artillery fire rate of 30,000 rounds is almost ten times current U.S. monthly 155 mm production (3,250 per month) or just less than a year. The United States has already provided Ukraine over 800,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition while Ukraine is asking for 250,000 per month.10 Though the Pentagon believes it can expand 155 mm manufacturing, the war has nevertheless consumed at least six years of 155 mm production.

This was in 2022. Things are worse today.

[Goose]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-unli...01968.html

No surprise here. The "military industrial complex" hasn't been robust for quite some years. Some "big" players have done very well financially but also have definitely under-performed in what they actually delivered. These organizations are at least as sclerotic as the US procurement system. Of course nobody has actually decided this situation is dangerous. Fixing it isn't even on the table. We can take some solace in the fact Europe is, in general, worse.

Best quote from the article:

For months, the US has run into the limits of its ability to replenish its own weapons inventories, which limited what the Biden administration has been able to send Ukraine. The US has been growing its capacity to produce critical munitions, such as 155mm artillery shells, since virtually the beginning of the war nearly three years ago, but the ramp up in production is not yet complete.

Three Years! This effort is targeted to producing one million plus rounds a year. As a reference, "As an example, Allied guns fired 2,710,248 rounds in June, 1953, and 2,000,982 rounds in July 1953". Even after the three year effort, we are nowhere near the ability to replicate what was done in 1953. It is true the US does not intend to rely on tube artillery nearly as much as we did previously. The USAF and systems like the MLRS reduce our dependence on artillery. However, that only works if we have "enough" of that. We no longer even make the MLRS cluster munitions that were used so effectively in Desert Storm.

The article https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals...gs-Change/ IMO contains some important insights into the problems.  From this article, published in 2023:

Simplifying this analysis to only 155 mm rounds means the 2022 daily average artillery fire rate of 30,000 rounds is almost ten times current U.S. monthly 155 mm production (3,250 per month) or just less than a year. The United States has already provided Ukraine over 800,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition while Ukraine is asking for 250,000 per month.10 Though the Pentagon believes it can expand 155 mm manufacturing, the war has nevertheless consumed at least six years of 155 mm production.

This was in 2022. Things are worse today.