ISSUE BRIEF
No. 5341 | FEBRUARY 26, 2024
DOUGLAS AND SARAH ALLISON CENTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
This paper, in its entirety, can be found at https://report.heritage.org/ib5341
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America Must Remedy Its Dangerous
Lack of Munitions Planning
Wilson Beaver and Jim Fein
The Pentagon was caught o guard by
the amount of artillery shells needed by
the Ukrainian and Israeli militaries after
being attacked, and supply is short.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Shells, missiles, and other munitions
are necessary to fight wars as well as to
deter them. Currently, the U.S. is not well
equipped to do either.
The U.S. must ramp up munitions pro-
duction fast and focus military aid and
sales on strategic priorities, especially in
the Indo–Pacific.
S
ince the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has not
bought and built enough munitions to keep
pace with the military operations the President
and Congress have tasked the Department of Defense
(DOD) with conducting. In 2014, the U.S. discovered
that it lacked enough precision-guided missiles to
take on a non-state actor, ISIS, in a limited campaign.
Less than a decade later, it has become apparent that
the problem persists, as the eort to arm Ukraine has
dangerously depleted America’s stores of artillery
shells. This deficiency in munitions planning harms
America’s warfighting capability, endangering its abil
-
ity to fight future wars. It is vital that the U.S. remedy
this deficiency by increasing munitions spending,
coordinating with allies, shoring up industry, and
doing a better job of husbanding resources.
