America Is Running Out of Ammo

President Biden is taking flak for sending cluster bombs to Ukraine, and over the weekend he blurted out the truth that both Kyiv and the U.S. are running low on firepower. So why doesn’t the Commander in Chief unveil a new national effort to expand U.S. weapons production and stocks?

“The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition,” Mr. Biden told CNN. “This is a war relating to munitions. And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it.” The U.S. has given Kyiv more than two million 155mm artillery rounds, and the Pentagon says Ukraine is burning through 3,000 shells a day.

The U.S. is ramping up to produce more than 20,000 shells a month this year and more in 2024, the U.S. Army says. But America’s adversaries can do the math and understand the U.S. may struggle to support a long war. The Biden crowd has cited limited stocks as a reason to withhold the Army Tactical Missile System, which could help Kyiv strike deep into Russian positions. The Administration is now leaking that it might furnish the missiles as Ukraine’s summer offensive becomes a slog.

Congress’s supplemental cash for Ukraine is helping refill America’s armory, but Mr. Biden has an obligation to make sure the U.S. never goes Winchester, as the saying has it, and not only for Ukraine. The lesson applies to the long-range missiles the U.S. may need if China decides to strike Taiwan.

In a war game for control of the island that the House Select Committee on China played this year, the U.S. ran out of long-range antiship weapons in three days. Retired Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery says in most games the U.S. needs roughly 1,200 long-range antiship missiles, known as LRASMs. But U.S. inventories are in the low hundreds after years of small orders.

Mr. Biden’s budget requested money for multiyear missile buys to exploit economies of scale. But his budget deal with House Republicans cramps defense spending for 2024 and 2025, and now Congress is squabbling over the fixed pie.

The House Appropriations Committee is declining to fund bulk buying of two crucial precision weapons—the Standard Missile-6 and an air-to-air AMRAAM missile. GOP appropriator Ken Calvert told us the Pentagon didn’t show sufficient savings and that contractors are struggling to fill their orders.

Yet capricious demand from Washington is one reason the industrial base is so brittle. Some manufacturers make a part or two for multiple missiles, and these subcontractors “have been living on the thin edge of profitability,” says Mark Gunzinger of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

House appropriators are right that readiness accounts need more money for maintenance and training, which their bill offers, and the missile tussle is an example of the risks of insufficient defense spending. The ammo shortage will require presidential leadership that is so far missing in action.

Mr. Biden could announce he’s asking Congress to fund a large expansion of U.S. weapons stocks. He could give a speech leveling to the public that deep American magazines make dictators think twice about invading a neighbor. He could explain how long-range missiles will reduce U.S. casualties in the terrible event the weapons are needed. America’s munitions shortage is a disgrace that needs urgent fixing.