"Every day we live under a continuing resolution is a day we do damage to our military." - Mac Thornberry, Chairman, House Armed Services Committee
| WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF BOMBS |
THE PROBLEM:
General Dunford said it best this spring, "Key precision guided munitions shortfalls are exacerbated by ongoing operations and may impact potential contingency response. Additionally, our current global inventories are insufficient for theater missile defense (TMD), standoff, and air-to-air munitions needs." Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson added, "when it comes to munitions, we are stretched. As she explained, the CR makes things much worse, "[it] impacts our ability to work with industry and give them certainty on the amount that we're going to buy and ramping that up where we can."
WHAT WE ARE DOING TODAY:
Planned ramp-ups for Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), small diameter bombs (SDBs), and Hellfire "Romeo" variants are being delayed by a near-term CR, which prohibits entering new contracts for increased quantities. These munitions are being used at high rates in current operations and will be critical in future operations. It takes up to 24 months to deliver sophisticated munitions once a contract is issued. The CR only adds 3 months of lost time to that total.
WHAT WE COULD BE DOING:
The House has authorized an increase of nearly 15,000 munitions over last year's levels and provides an additional $2 billion to cover unfunded requirements for munitions.
