Decades of underfunding have resulted in a defense industrial base with little surge capacity

US media said on Thursday that the US military faced a "sharp reduction in its arsenal" due to military supplies to Ukraine.

In an article entitled "Pink Flamingo: The U.S. Military Will Pay for Its Munition Shortage," the US National Interest magazine stressed that "The military must set realistic requirements for munitions stockpiles based on the certainty of the high rates of expenditures that will be experienced in any future conflict with Russia or China."

"The Biden administration’s efforts to assist Ukraine in its war with Russia shine a light on two serious national security problems," the article said. The first problem is the Department of Defense’s inadequate stockpiles of munitions. The second problem is about how the depletion of US stockpiles is affecting the US's capabilities to be ready in the face of potential contingencies. The article noted the difficulties facing the defense industrial base to respond to quickly increase production of critical items."

"Unfortunately, decades of underfunding have resulted in a defense industrial base with little surge capacity," the National Interest's article added, emphasizing that "As a result, with a few exceptions, there was virtually no surge capacity available either to support Ukraine or rapidly fill depleted U.S. munitions stocks."

"When Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States began moving large amounts of munitions to that country, including 1,400 Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft systems; 8,500 Javelin anti-tank systems; 38,000 other anti-armor systems; 1,500 TOW anti-tank missiles; 150 155mm and 105mm artillery pieces; dozens of long-range missiles for both the MLRS and HIMARS rocket artillery systems," as well as other weapons, the article noted.

It added that the war between Russia and Ukraine "has put what can be described as two Pink Flamingos in the spotlight. The first is the inadequacy of existing stocks of munitions, including both “dumb” bombs and artillery projectiles, as well as an array of guided and precision-targeted weapons," while the "second Pink Flamingo is the limited ability of the defense industrial base to surge production of critical munitions and weapons."

"By late summer of 2022, the Pentagon had depleted its stocks of a number of critical munitions and could only promise to provide more of them to Ukraine in a matter of months or even years."

Read: US weapon supplies 'uncomfortably low' due to Ukraine aid - WSJ