By providing military assistance to Ukraine, the United States risks losing much of its weapons stockpile without being able to increase production rapidly. This assessment was made by Bloomberg Hall Brands analyst.
He said the United States was acting as an “arsenal of democracy” in the situation around Ukraine, avoiding direct involvement in the conflict. But over time, that “arsenal may be depleted,” the author notes.
“The United States has already supplied Ukraine with a third of its stockpile of Javelin anti-tank systems,” Brands said, noting that Ukrainian forces are also short of aircraft and ammunition.
With the increase in supplies, Washington “will significantly deplete its reserves,” and the increase in production “will take months or years.” The author points out that there is a “shortage of machinery, skilled labor and production capacity.”
“This threatens a fatal shortage of weapons in this conflict for the Ukrainian military and shows the weakness of the United States, which will be revealed in the next clash of great powers,” said Brands.
In the event of a “conflict with Russia or China,” the author says, the United States would run out of its own supplies “within days or weeks.”
That is why Western countries are faced with the choice of “increasing supplies to Ukraine or maintaining the limited reserves they may need for their own defense,” Brands said.
Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing that arms supplies to Ukraine had not affected the US military’s combat readiness.
A Pentagon spokesman added that he was unaware of the possibility of increasing the production of the relevant weapons at the moment.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden announced a decision to provide Kyiv with another $ 800 million in military aid, including 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 200 armored personnel carriers, 18 howitzers and 40,000 artillery shells, 300 Switchblade gunpowder shells, 500 Javelin anti-tank missiles. .
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