Pentagon is running out of bombs
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.
Comments
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"
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?
What a steal!
I hear you can startle the crap out of your allies with them.
Currently reading: How to Create a Mind - Ray Kurzweil
The obvious solution
is for Russia to move its borders away from NATO military bases.
They just need to redesign the bomb-building process so as to
involve lucrative contracts in all fifty states, including Vermont.
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.
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?
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 "
I understand cruise missiles have eleven pounds
of silver in them.
Good Question
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?
I believe they have been sold to the Saudis
The Royal Saudi Air Force uses these on their 84 newly acquired F15-SA's to shoot down high jumping Houthis in Yemen.
Not to mention...
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.
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?
This just in from Poland:
"All your bombs are belong to us."
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
@Not Henry Kissinger
Haven't they also been arming some of their official/erst-while
terroristrebel 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.
You've heard that expression.
"Go pound sand"
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.
Of course, the cuts were not out of any humanitarian concerns, but strictly budgetary,
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.
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?
Heh. Your question requires "in-depth analysis."
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.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
I was scouting books at the local Goodwill
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?
@Not Henry Kissinger
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.
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.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
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!
Damn that Putin!
How dare he invade and occupy Russia!
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...
Heres a couple good lines
“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.
... As military news site
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.