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The U.S. Ammo Shortage Is Worse Than You Think

35 points by Teever

by mikestew

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by rjsw

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There was a RUSI paper at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that identified this problem.
The one area of munitions supply that was in good shape was 5.56mm, the "assault rifle" culture in the US means there are enough people plinking at targets to keep a good number of factories profitable.

by ferryth

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by lofaszvanitt

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Unrelated. After seeing some videos of people fighting on the UKR/RUS front. The first thing that struck me is, that people shoot like they are playing Counterstrike. Shooting in the air, in the ground, everywhere, just not on anything that resembles any enemy.

by queenkjuul

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Can't help but wonder what the fuck the trillions of dollars has been doing all these years if not buying weapons
Good to know the US can't even get its military right, though.

by pstuart

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We need a military that is well-equipped but also cost-conscious in how they are provisioned. The Military Industrial Complex is designed to extract as much cash from the coffers as possible without regard for the value added to national defense.
This is yet another example of two sides yelling past each other where the Left simply insists on cutting military spending and the Right glorifies the military and salutes increased spending as "patriotic".
This is the rot of our politics today across all projects...

by theultdev

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Kind of a nothing article. I think the title hinges on this once sentence:
> The U.S. lacks enough munitions to support its war plans if a protracted conflict with China, Russia or North Korea arises.
But no actual amounts or anything mentioned, just supposing.
Not that I expected anything more from WSJ.

by readthenotes1

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Why can't we just import munitions and medicines from overseas as usual?
It's inefficient to manufacture in the US because of all the regulations to prevent occupational hazards and environmental destruction, the minimum wage and unions, the high price of medical care, and having to transport all the input materials to a US factory.