Republican U.S. Senator Corning is worried that neither the United States nor Taiwan is ready for China's possible aggression at any time, and the U.S. defense industry may be "caught off guard."

(AFP file photo)

Outdated military contracting process combined with bureaucratic slowness

[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report] The US think tank "Center for Strategic and International Studies" (CSIS) reported on the 23rd that the US defense industry is not fully prepared for the current security situation. Outdated military contracting procedures and a sluggish bureaucracy could hamper the U.S. military’s ability to fight a protracted war against China, including running out of ammunition stocks in a Taiwan Strait conflict, leading to the so-called “Empty Bin” problem.

The CSIS report, titled "Empty Boxes in a Wartime Environment: Challenges to the U.S. National Defense Industrial Base," noted that since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the U.S. and its allies have shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine. America's own weapons stockpile is at risk.

The report said the Russo-Ukrainian war had depleted the U.S. inventory of certain types of weapons systems and ammunition, such as the Stinger surface-to-air missile, the 155cm howitzer and the Javelin anti-tank missile, while the U.S. The arsenal has been slow to be replenished.

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Partial depletion of ammunition in less than a week may not increase production as much

The report, written by Seth Jones, senior vice president and director of the International Security Program at CSIS, reflects the views of senior U.S. military and other government officials, as well as the defense community, Congress and the military industry.

The report reminds that according to the results of a series of CSIS military pushes, in the Taiwan Strait conflict, the United States may run out of certain ammunition in less than a week, such as long-range precision-guided ammunition, resulting in the problem of "empty tanks", which will make it difficult for the US military to maintain a protracted war. conflict, in part because the U.S. defense industrial base lacks the capacity to dramatically increase production capacity in response to a large-scale war.

The report mentioned that these problems are affecting the ability of the United States to build a credible deterrent in the Indo-Pacific region or confront China in a military conflict.

According to some U.S. government estimates, China is investing heavily in arms and acquiring high-end weapons systems and equipment five to six times faster than the United States.

In an interview with the "Wall Street Journal", Jones mentioned that the current US defense industrial base is "more suitable for operating in a peaceful environment."

The report also pointed out that this shortcoming makes the United States unable to cope with a protracted war.

Indo-Pacific War Needs More Long-Range Ammunition, Stockpiles

The report believes that the U.S. military is not only facing the problem of insufficient ammunition in the Taiwan Strait conflict. Taiwan is an island. More long-range ammunition requires more ammunition stocks in the theater.

The report recommends that the U.S. Department of Defense, in coordination with Congress, develop a plan to take steps to simplify and improve production, procurement, resupply, foreign military sales, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and reassess other policies and procedures, while reassessing U.S. stockpile requirements, establishing Strategic Ammunition Stockpiles and identify sustainable ammunition acquisition programs to meet current and future requirements.

Eurasia, Indo-Pacific war broke out at the same time, US Congressman: Difficult to deal with

Republican Senator John Cornyn of the U.S. Congress pointed out on the 23rd that the problems raised by the CSIS report are a wake-up call for the United States. The United States has not made a perfect intelligence assessment of when China will invade Taiwan. He is worried that, Neither the United States nor Taiwan is prepared for Xi Jinping's possible aggression at any time. The U.S. defense industry may be "unprepared" and it will be difficult to simultaneously respond to simultaneous wars in the Eurasian continent and the Indo-Pacific region.