Progress on Munitions Procurement: Military Can Buy Missiles in Advance

A pair of reports from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan think tank specializing in foreign affairs, has sparked appropriate concern over dwindling U.S. munitions supplies. Relying on public data and reported munitions usage rather than anonymous leaks, the organization estimated stockpile levels before the war with Iran and now, concluding that America’s arsenal has reached dangerous new lows.

CSIS’s first report tells us where we presently are on seven critical munitions, used for either long-range ground attack or air and missile defense. On the offensive side, the Department of Defense still possesses most of the munitions it had before the war. The situation is much more dire defensively: The Iran war may have consumed a majority of three out of four stockpiles.

About the Author

John R. Puri

John R. Puri is the Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow at National Review.

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A pair of reports from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan think tank specializing in foreign affairs, has sparked appropriate concern over dwindling U.S. munitions supplies. Relying on public data and reported munitions usage rather than anonymous leaks, the organization estimated stockpile levels before the war with Iran and now, concluding that America’s arsenal has reached dangerous new lows.

CSIS’s first report tells us where we presently are on seven critical munitions, used for either long-range ground attack or air and missile defense. On the offensive side, the Department of Defense still possesses most of the munitions it had before the war. The situation is much more dire defensively: The Iran war may have consumed a majority of three out of four stockpiles.