Pentagon is running out of bombs

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 2:50pm

It's a Shakespearean Tragedy.
It seems that we've dropped so many bombs on Muslim nations, and at such a rate, that it is impeding our ability to start new wars.

Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told Congress last week that in order to keep up with the war campaign against the Islamic State and other Islamic terrorist targets in the Middle East, he’ll need Congress to beef up his bomb stockpile.
In a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee on April 26, Harris explained that “critical munitions shortfalls” are his “top war fighting concern.”...
“These are not exciting kinds of weapons; these are mundane sort of weapons,” Harris said. “But they’re absolutely critical to what we’re trying to do, not only … against North Korea, but also in the fights in the Middle East.”

There are a lot of assumptions to unpack in those two sentences.
Let's start with "mundane sort of weapons".
What kinds are we talking about?

As military news site Defense One reports, America is running short on the GPS-guided Small Diameter Bombs made by Boeing, newer models made by Raytheon, and even air-to-air missiles. Many of the existing stockpiles of bombs held by the US military are being diverted from the Pacific region to the Middle East and Africa, where the need is reportedly most urgent.

In what twisted world is GPS-guided smart bombs "mundane"?
And why are we running out of air-to-air missiles? ISIS has no air fleet. What airplanes have we been shooting down?

Let's not overlook the "against North Korea" comment.
What exactly prompted him to make that comment?
Should we feel glad he didn't say "against Russia" instead?
It seems Russia has been aggressively stationing troops within their own borders.

Defense Secretary James Mattis today issued a statement loudly condemning Russia for its military deployments within Russian territory, saying such moves were necessarily destabilizing, even though the deployments are part of a planned, upcoming wargames.
Russia will be hosting wargames with ally Belarus in September, and it will involve troops being around western Russia, which despite being Russia, and therefore a place Russia can definitely station troops, is too close to NATO territory for the taste of US officials.

Of course, there is also the problem of drone operators not wanting to kill more innocent civilians.
Then there is a different and intentionally ignored issue of what dropping all these bombs is doing to the people dropping them.

One of the subjects of the film, Heather (only first names are used in the documentary), had recently left the Air Force after serving as an intelligence analyst in the drone program. “When I met Heather the first time she told me not only had she’d struggled with suicide because of all she had seen and experienced, three of her former Air Force colleagues from the program have already taken their own lives. At that point I knew I had to do a film,” Kennebeck explained.

But the problem is not having enough bombs.

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Comments

Submitted by Lily O Lady on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 3:15pm

Thanks for the heads-up!

Invest in Boeing and Raytheon. /snark

I just finished watching Season 6 of The Walking Dead and I feel like Rick's people in the season finale. Captured by the ruthless group The Saviors, the prisoners are helpless against being used for their captors nefarious purposes.

—

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by CB on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 3:19pm

Damn it! We've got to stop Putin from moving Russia

ever closer and closer to our NATO bases. This raw aggression has got to stop immediately. Unfortunately we're too low on bombs to do much. Maybe we can trade a few dozen F35's for some bombs?

Submitted by Aramis Wyler on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 3:42pm

What a steal!

@CB I hear you can startle the crap out of your allies with them.

—

Currently reading: How to Create a Mind - Ray Kurzweil

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 3:51pm

The obvious solution

@CB
is for Russia to move its borders away from NATO military bases.

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 05/13/2017 - 3:49am

They just need to redesign the bomb-building process so as to

@CB involve lucrative contracts in all fifty states, including Vermont.

Submitted by detroitmechworks on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 3:55pm

This is starting to sound like

somebody is trying to score that consulting job after retirement.

—

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Submitted by OPOL on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 4:38pm

Pity the poor war machine.

How can you expect us to continue bombing humanity if you won't fork over gobs of cash for an unending supply of mundane bombs?

Submitted by boriscleto on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 4:47pm

I remember a quote from Soldiers For The Truth

(Now it's Stand For The Troops)

Back in 2002 or 2003. There was a general quoted saying "Dropping JDAMs on Afghanistan is like throwing gold in a mud puddle".

—

" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

Submitted by Song of the lark on Sat, 05/13/2017 - 8:56am

I understand cruise missiles have eleven pounds

@boriscleto of silver in them.

Submitted by Not Henry Kissinger on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 5:26pm

Good Question

And why are we running out of air-to-air missiles? ISIS has no air fleet. What airplanes have we been shooting down?

Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, would be the guy in charge of a North Korean attack, so he's not looking necessarily at his present requirements, but instead looking to beef up for future operations.

The air-to-air missile stockpile is still an interesting request. After all it's not like the North Korean Air Force of Soviet antiques is going to give us any trouble.

The Chinese on the other hand...Or the Russians...

—

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Submitted by CB on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 5:42pm

I believe they have been sold to the Saudis

@Not Henry Kissinger
The Royal Saudi Air Force uses these on their 84 newly acquired F15-SA's to shoot down high jumping Houthis in Yemen.

Submitted by Not Henry Kissinger on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 7:30pm

Not to mention...

@CB

all those big NATO blitzkrieg exercises in Eastern Europe.

It's a real problem for late stage empires when arming your allies becomes more profitable than arming yourself.

Just ask the Romans about that.

—

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 8:23pm

This just in from Poland:

@Not Henry Kissinger

"All your bombs are belong to us."

—

IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"

Submitted by Ellen North on Sun, 05/14/2017 - 11:58pm

@Not Henry Kissinger

@Not Henry Kissinger

Haven't they also been arming some of their official/erst-while ~~terrorist~~ rebel fighter enemies? Dunno if they've been donating or charging them, though...

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by Song of the lark on Sat, 05/13/2017 - 8:59am

You've heard that expression.

@CB "Go pound sand"

Submitted by Not Henry Kissinger on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 5:24pm

Two Fronts

All those 'kinetic' actions in the Middle East sure take a toll on procurement, which makes the possibility of fighting a two front war even more remote now than before Leon Panetta's budget cuts.

The United States should give up the capability to fight two major ground wars simultaneously, according to a Pentagon review that will be presented this week, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

The review will be publicly outlined by President Barack Obama, the White House announced. The president will join Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen Martin Dempsey on Thursday at the Pentagon to discuss the military posture vision.

Of course, the cuts were not out of any humanitarian concerns, but strictly budgetary,

The review was conducted in light of potential limits on federal spending and the need to reduce the Pentagon's budget.

Currently, the Pentagon is committed to nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts over the next decade and could be on the hook for another half trillion dollars if Congress does not find a way around automatic cuts that enacted after the failure to reach an agreement on the federal budget.

Trump wants to restore those cuts, which is why he parades the PACCOM chief in front of Congress.

It'll be interesting to see whether the Democrats are at all interested in salvaging something of value from Obama's legacy or whether they'll roll over and give in to another war.

I think we all know the answer to this one.

—

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 9:15pm

Heh. Your question requires "in-depth analysis."

@Not Henry Kissinger

It'll be interesting to see whether the Democrats … will roll over and give in to another war.

Under Obama, the Democrats gave in to eight additional years of two ongoing wars, and five brand-new wars.

Perhaps they'll find their moral compasses with Trumps guidance. Maybe Trump can make the Democrats Great™ again.

—

IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"

Submitted by Song of the lark on Sat, 05/13/2017 - 9:08am

I was scouting books at the local Goodwill

@Pluto's Republic yesterday. I saw a red MAGA hat in the accessories bin. I spent a half hour deciding whether to buy it. I finally resolved that it might be a useful prop in the summer camp follies. I couldn't even bring it in the house. Now I'm back to feeling like a morally compromised liberal again. How long have we been at war?

Submitted by Ellen North on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 12:03am

@Not Henry Kissinger

@Not Henry Kissinger

... It'll be interesting to see whether the Democrats are at all interested in salvaging something of value from Obama's legacy or whether they'll roll over and give in to another war. ...

And here I thought that such advances in the global hostile corporate take-over were Obama's legacy...

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 8:19pm

This looks like a global level hate crime

…against Muslims, no? They seem to be "standing their ground," which provokes our military to kill even more. Are we slaughtering any other religions, or just them?

I guess that now makes Trump the Greatest™ terrorist on the planet. Worthy of a fist bump.

—

IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"

Submitted by p cook on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 9:04pm

Very interesting in a bad way

My issue is psycho war nation/IMPERIALISM-with-a-soft-touch. Other USAians, not so much. I'm a platypus!

Thanks for this diary. Always good gjohnsit!

Submitted by edg on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 9:20pm

Damn that Putin!

How dare he invade and occupy Russia!

Submitted by p cook on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 9:40pm

From a Moyers article...

I'm skeptical about Moyers, considering his history...

From truthdig dot com,

"If we are now a failed country, as I believe we are, it is not because we have a failed presidency, although we do. It is because we are a failed people. A callousness, a self-righteousness, an obdurateness and, yes, a monstrousness has emerged from some subterranean depth where it had been forcibly submerged. We may say this is not who we are. That is denial."

I'm afraid this is who we have always been, of course. We point to the period of post WWII to Vietnam as our saving grace as a people. Straws?.

I have always been a Mark Twain fan, a skeptic regarding America. His writings regarding empire should be required for our youth. And for Congress!

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/has_america_no_sense_of_decency_2017...

Submitted by pro left on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 11:45pm

Heres a couple good lines

@p cook “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." –Mark Twain

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." –Mark Twain Simple and to the point.

Submitted by Ellen North on Sun, 05/14/2017 - 11:54pm

... As military news site

... As military news site Defense One reports, America is running short on the GPS-guided Small Diameter Bombs made by Boeing, newer models made by Raytheon, and even air-to-air missiles. Many of the existing stockpiles of bombs held by the US military are being diverted from the Pacific region to the Middle East and Africa, where the need is reportedly most urgent.

In what twisted world is GPS-guided smart bombs "mundane"?
And why are we running out of air-to-air missiles? ISIS has no air fleet. What airplanes have we been shooting down? ...

Brand name shopping list to bolster specific investments? And I expect they'll want to start shooting down Russian planes so they can get on to those nukes they've been itching to use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNFQw8VIvA

DEF LEPPARD - "Armageddon It"

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.