US Forced to Import Bullets (on Common Dreams)

[CatBoreal]

Just found this. HOLY SHITE!

US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine.

<snip>

Though millions of dollars have been spent on upgrading the facilities, they remain unable to meet current munitions needs in their current state. "The government-owned plant producing small-caliber ammunition cannot meet the increased requirements, even with modernization efforts," said the report.

"Also, commercial producers within the national technology and industrial base have not had the capacity to meet these requirements. As a result, the Department of Defense had to rely at least in part on foreign commercial producers to meet its small-caliber ammunition needs."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0925-02.htm

:wow:

[valerief]

1. Wow. Halliburton's gonna have to start making bullets soon.

[RC]

2. Our armed forces must be really bad shots.

250,000 rounds for every insurgent killed...
Wait a minute, if they would count the Innocent civilians killed, that rate would probably drop to 2.5 rounds per dead body.

[Retired AF Dem]

4. I would have to guess it is one foreign suicide bomber

insurgent killed for every twenty innocent civilians killed. To many of us here on DU have family in Iraq to put up with this crap. It isnt their fault they are there.

[Retired AF Dem]

3. I don't really believe the article

if it was true there would also be a shortage on the civilian market for 5.56 ammo which there isnt.

[OrlandoGator]

5. That was my first warning bell. Why isn't 5.56 or 9mm short in the U.S.?

And 1.8 billion-with-a-B rounds per year is simply not a credible figure.

[Retired AF Dem]

6. Exactly

if the ammo makers couldn't keep up the first thing they would cut is civilian sales as was done during WW 2.

[Frederik]

12. Because

the Pentagon don't buy them from civilian manufactors? Apparently, there's a govt-run plant (only one? how can it produce enough?) which produces small-arms ammo for the military. Sounds like communism, lol.

On edit: Apparently there are three plants, run by contractors but owned by the govt.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. What part do you not believe?

I think, the way these guys do business, that there is a quid pro quo here -- if there is no shortage of ammo, then the importing must be covering a payoff. We purchase x amount of ammo at 25% above market prices and in return, Israel (or certain persons in Israel) agree to ... what?

Likud and the ultra-conservatives would not have the power they do without a lot of funding from the US - either the government or from civilian organizations. That funding of the radical right in Israel is what disenfranchised the leftists and Israeli peace movement.

A possibility?

[JohnnyRingo]

7. During the Viet war we had to buy back our surplus Korean war bombs

that we sold to Germany.
....At about 10 times the cost we sold them for.

They didn't care because it wasn't their money.

[radar]

9. This has happened before....

"...The protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and heightened combat training with live ammunition have left the military short of small-caliber bullets. To offset the squeeze, the Army is taking unusual stopgap measures such as buying ammunition from Britain and Israel. It is also working to increase domestic production...."

Running Low on Ammo
Military Turns to Overseas Suppliers to Cover Shortages
By Renae Merle Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 22, 2004; Page E01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4044-2004Jul21?language=printer


"It's been an open secret for a while now that the U.S. military is running low on ammunition. But a new supplier may be emerging, if foreign press reports are accurate. America may start buying some of its bullets from Taiwan...."
TAIWAN TO SUPPLY U.S. AMMO? January 11, 2005 07:58 AM
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001317.html

* Adding another link that mentions difference between civilian & military munitions.

"...Then there's the Army's apparent refusal to use old-fashioned lead munitions, easily available on the civilian market and often sold by the Army itself as surplus..."
...Buying commercial 5.56 and 7.62mm for training use is a bad idea, since their point of impact will differ greatly from the military issue loads. Commercial 5.56mm can hit 3-4 inches higher than point of aim, and that may well get people killed in a combat environment....

WindsOfChange.net by Joe Katzman at January 13, 2004 06:56 AM
http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/004462.php

[RC]

11. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense...

...Buying commercial 5.56 and 7.62mm for training use is a bad idea, since their point of impact will differ greatly from the military issue loads. Commercial 5.56mm can hit 3-4 inches higher than point of aim, and that may well get people killed in a combat environment....

And if you hit what you are shooting at, the target doesn't die as dead?
You'd think that someone would stumble on the concept of just aiming lower.

[BOHICA06]

10. Hell, I was qualifying with Israeli .45 ammo in the 80s

it was the 7.69x39mm with the funny head-stamps that caught my attention. Contra or Afghan bound with foreign stamps from a US manufacturer.