Possible Exhaustion of US Weapons Stockpiles Resulting From Ukrainian Supply Drain Worries Lawmakers

Earlier in April, Moscow warned that the ongoing push by the US and its NATO allies to provide arms to Kiev is exacerbating the Ukrainian conflict and may lead to unpredictable consequences.

If the Biden administration goes ahead with arms supplies to Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian special military operation in the country, the US’ weapons stockpiles may run out in several months, some senators and experts have warned.

Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, Ellen Lord, former under secretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, called the situation “a huge threat” to the national security, according to the news agency Bloomberg. Lord added that the US has already sent nearly a quarter of its stockpile of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine.

She warned that the US failing to inject into infrastructure to maintain production capacity may result in replenishment lags of three to five years.

Lord pointed to the Defense Production Act, which she said would allow the Pentagon “to move money to industry to actually make the capital investments or train the workforce or develop the supply chain”, adding, “that’s where you can really move the needle on this issue”.

She was echoed by David Berteau, head of the Professional Services Council, who told senators that since the beginning of the Russian special operation on 24 February, the US has been readying almost one-third of its available weapons stockpiles, while no contracts to replenish them have been clinched.

“There is no way contractors are going to deliver replacements in less than [six months] even if we started today. We’re behind and you guys should push them to hurry up,” Berteau was quoted as saying by the US news website Stars and Stripes.

Jack Reed, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, in turn urged the Biden administration and the defence industry to significantly improve their approach to how they identify military needs. “This is being tested right now as we work to backfill our stockpiles following the enormous transfer of weapons to Ukraine,” he said.

This followed Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies, saying that he expects Washington to slow down shipments of Javelins to Kiev.

“At some point, I think the U.S. military is going to put the foot down and say sending more will endanger our ability to execute our war plans,” Cancian pointed out.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have repeatedly assured lawmakers that weapons stockpiles have not reached critical levels. Earlier this month, Milley told the House Armed Services Committee that the Pentagon is “still meeting” its “mission requirements for Javelins, so the Department of Defence is “not breaking any of those red lines”.

The statement was preceded by Moscow sending a note to Washington, in which it called on the US and its allies “to stop the irresponsible militarisation of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security”.

US President Joe Biden previously said that Washington is considering sending Ukraine Humvee armoured vehicles, along with other sophisticated military equipment as part of the new aid package worth $750 million, which also includes 500 Javelin anti-tank missiles, 200 M113 armoured vehicles as well as 16 Mi-17s helicopters.

The Russian special operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine, which was announced by President Vladimir Putin after requests for help from the Donbass republics amid intensifying shelling by the Ukrainian army, entered its second stage in late March. The goal is to liberate the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic from Ukrainian forces.