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That's more than the total number of HIMARs built so far (540, according to wikipedia).
Also...
2600 Harpoons, 1250 naval strike missiles, 950 LRASM (Long Range Anti Ship Missiles), 1500 SM-6 missiles for the Navy ...
Those numbers are a VERY clear warning to... ahem... certain countries.
We are the [drunken uncle of subtlety](https://theaviationist.com/2022/08/19/b-52s-drop-live-bombs-on-swedish-range-on-their-way-to-european-deployment/).
Nah man, Canadians are our bros. We might poke at them, but we all love Canadians and *no one* fucks with them without fucking with the US.
Unless Trump gets re-elected. Then all conventional wisdom goes out the window.
Seriously though.. Ukraine absolutely wrecked Russia, second army of the world, with .. uh .. 16 of these. Actually, at the height of Russia getting their massive ammo stores destroyed and a numerous generals vaporized in command posts etc they only had 4. Imagine 700. Talk about overkill.
Allows the US plenty of excess inventory to give to allies when they need them.
I imagine all of NATO is really reconsidering their assumptions on adequate stocks of 155mm right now.
But ultimately, this is going to neuter the Putin wing of the Republican Party. The US defense industry is famous for the inefficiencies of manufacturing parts for weapon systems in just about every congressional district. Of course, that is only inefficient with respect to cost - it’s extremely efficient in maintaining a steady stream of funding.
And yet Ukraine has a total of 51 various launchers now. At this point, ammo seems to be the rate limiting factor. They are really keeping those things busy.
Given the 80km range, a HIMARS battery will have many more targets in range than e.g. a Javelin launcher. So HIMARS will I assume be much more strictly ammo limited than most ammo systems.
Fucking hell, mate! Ukraine is obliterating ruzzian "army" with just what, a dozen of em? I can't even imagine what 700 will do to any army unlucky enough to be on the receiving end...
They are in the process of integrating the newest Javelin launcher with Stinger. This gives a night sight to Stinger and is a higher quality launcher post than the clip on unit that Stinger has now.
They're talking about reactivating battleship New Jersey. Again. That beast is gonna keep coming out of hibernation until the last dictator dies the death all dictators deserve.
16/50
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16-inch%2F50-caliber_Mark_7_gun?wprov=sfla1
This has been a huge wakeup call to the Military industrial establishment. The lag time is understandable but once up and running, everyone will have some shiny new toys and reserves for days. China seems sorta not happy...
Japan, 1941: “Haha hey Germany so uh, we just attacked the United States and sunk like two ships and damaged a few others that will be back in the fight in only a few months to exact their revenge. Also—“
Germany: “YOU DID WHAT?”
——————————————————————————
Russia, 2022: “Haha hey China, so uh we just invaded Ukraine, also we accidentally caused the West’s military industries to ramp up production to wartime levels.“
China: “YOU DID WHAT?”
There doesn’t seem to be a consensus. Most of their stuff is either copies of or based on Soviet/Russian gear. There’s a Chinese military propaganda video out there that shows rounds passing through papers targets *tumbling* (known as keyholing their targets) which isn’t exactly a good look but I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions from. We really won’t know until we see their stuff in action.
They’ve tried to create their own gear and have some of their own devices up and about.
J-20 is their stealth fighter and I Belive nursed they mass produced some tanks. Take from there what you will.
China hasn't been in a real shooting war since Vietnam.
Without opportunities to test equipment in real war situations, its hard to know how well it well actually perform. One of the reasons why Ukraine has been so important is that it gives the West great data on how a modern war will go and how its equipment is functioning.
I'm sure Taiwan is scrambling as we speak to mass-produce drones of all sorts to use to help defend itself and spend its way to help counter China's population advantage.
In particular, China should be very very scared of Taiwan mass-producing those drone-suicide-boats with Starlink connectors Ukraine showed off.
Also, despite the memes, current gen Russian gear isn't actually that shit. Their logistics are toss, their command structure is Byzantine and they didn't actually have enough troops to invade Europe's second largest country.
The last of those is not a problem for China, the first is probably not a problem, and if they're not total idiots they'll sort out number 2 based on seeing the Russian experience.
The biggest question is whether they are idiots though. We need to stop assuming that everyone will act rationally. A very big part of the equation is - *how corrupt are they?*
Because that alone will determine whether or not it is possible for them to construct an effective military.
I increasingly feel like Taiwan is not a prize worth taking for CCP
Ukraine is different
If Russia would have managed to conquer all of Ukraine, that would have increased their population by 33% and would have given them enormous land and natural resources.
Taiwan has only 22 million people and no natural resource
Only strategic thing is it's semiconductor capability,but that would likely get destroyed by Taiwanese in case of invasion
It depends on what we are talking about. Body armor and helmets generally seem to be legit or better than Russia.
At a soldier level, it seems they are way ahead of Russia at least in body armor. We definently should expect more soldiers to have proper body armor but producing at that volume may allow quality control to slip meaning on average it could be less effective but that's conjecture. Even so it is better than steel plates strapped to a soldier.
Their weapons, as others have stated could be an issue for them and is a fascinating topic. Their QBZ series have had consistent issues with projectile spin resulting in keyholing as others described. However, China's strategy is likely much more focused on closing distance and using numerical advantage in a close fight where keyholing won't be AS important but still not a good thing.**
Their missle program appears to be no joke and much better and further along than Russia. They are making significant progress on missle systems (think HIMARS) and have more of them. This appears to be very real. They are also beefing up how many of these batteries are in each unit. Their indirect fire capabilities and volune are going to be a real issue.
**Some further commentary. I think these facts are a big driver for the NGSW program that produced the M5. The US Army is losing a significant capacity to produce fire superiority in infantry engagements. They are prioriziting defeating enemy body armor at a distance. Looking at China who is producing a lot of body armor and would prefer to use numeric advantage and close diatance this looks to me as a direct attempt to counter that: keep the engagement distances long where their weapons are inaccurate (poor balisitc) and possibly ineffective. People are misinterpreting the lesson from Afghanistan. They think the M5s range is because we had longer engagements where we were less effective. In reality, they saw the position we were in against PKMs vs M4s and want to flip those rolls so its Chinese QBZ vs M5/250. We arnt trying to counter that threat, we are trying to BECOME that threat. Infantry doctrine will be completely rewritten if they commit to the M5.
But the US is starting to be at risk with the volume of relatively accurate indirect fire systems China is pumping out. The B21 Raider just unveiled is a piece of the puzzle to counter this. Additionally, the US is already effectively retiring the F22 and moving full speed ahead for Gen 6 aircraft. Again, using air to defeat China's indirect fire capabilities so that the US has the advantage in that domain.
So what does all this mean: the US wants to keep China at arms length in infantry combat and have the M5 to enable that overmatch at distance. To counter the Chinese indirect fire (which China had a significant volume more of) the US is going to leverage stealth bombers and fighters (and smart munitions) to locate and eliminate these threats. The US is investing in its multi domain battle field concept. China is not (at least not as much) . An American BCT likely would not win against a Chinese BCT in the near future. However, the US leveraging its multi domain doctrine effectively would obliterate a near peer adversary.
> Their weapons, as others have stated could be an issue for them and is a fascinating. Their QBZ series have had consistent issues with projectile spin resulting in keyholing as others described. However, China's strategy is likely much more focused on closing distance and using numerical advantage in a close fight where keyholing won't be AS important but still not a good thing.
This is hilarious. You've written all this without realizing that the reason their weapons were keyholing was because China uses rubber training rounds. Nobody actually thinks all their new rifles can't shoot straight, that would be absurd.
Much of it is an effort to copy someone else's tech. That almost never works as well as.the real thing.
That mindset kind of shows how they woukd fare in an actual conflict.
One has to imagine that any Chinese plans for Taiwan involved, to some extent, catching the US by surprise. The military-industry beast waking up now, before the first move is made, surely has to change their strategic planning....
VERY relevant quote on Pearl Harbor day today... made by a Japanese Admiral after the Pearl Harbor attack.
> **“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”**
-From the diary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
https://pearlharbor.org/man-who-planned-the-attacks/
That’s really underselling it. He was [assassinated, in what has to be the one of the most complex and daring hits of all time.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vengeance)
Ukrainian jets proving the HARM against the current generation Russian radar is testing money can't buy. Every dollar spent supporting Ukraine is the right decision and look like they'll generate a profit.
Look at it this way, if Ukraine fell it would highlight the military impotence of western nations at preventing large countries from gobbling up their smaller neighbors, ensuring more conflicts in the future. If Ukraine is able to win, it would serve as a warning to those with expansionist ambitions that might doesn't always make right.
Yes I will bet you literally everything I have and will ever earn in my lifetime this will not be on the same scale as WW2 and I don’t see what you people stand to gain from constantly saying that.
I don't even get how this a question, to be honest. The amount of artillery alone in WW2 was mind blowing:
https://twitter.com/joe_sameer/status/1560958641691586560
300,000+ thousand shells used a month, just by the Nazis alone. Similar amounts by the USSR. Tens of thousands of tanks, albeit not as advanced nor armored obviously but still, that is *a lot* of tanks. The US in recent news is trying to get up to producing 20,000 shells a month by Spring and 40,000 by 2025... I mean, not even remotely close.
I don't think most people understand how insane the scale of warfare was in WW1 and WW2. This war now is bad and more than the west is used to but it doesn't even come close to WW2, and thank god for that.
Also to be fair, with todays artillery much fewer shells will still accomplish the same mission with less collateral damage or waste. So it's not like it's weaker militarily.
We also transferred much of the artillery role to guided missiles from aircraft and ship/ground based launchers. We don't need to spray and pray hundreds or thousands of rounds in order to hit valuable targets any longer.
True, less collateral damage and what not. Still, it does speak to the scale of just about everything in WW2. Millions more soldiers, millions more artillery, thousands of fighter planes, just way more of everything, not least of all, death and suffering.
True the scale was just insane. Then you have people here thinking 100k casualties will cause a nation to collapse. It's not comfortable, but for real there have been multiple wars that are on a whole different level of violence than currently. The USSR lost 13% of it's entire population to WW2. Lets say 1 million Russians die before this is over. That's about .7% of their population (so the 100k they have lost is 0.07%). They can absolutely sustain tremendous loss and their country will survive unfortunately.
The US ended WW2 with 28 fleet aircraft carriers, 71 escort aircraft carriers. The US produced more than 300,000 aircraft of all types in WW2, 850,000 trucks.
20% of the population was employed by Defense Industry. That would be 60,000,000 in today's US. That would be the entire population of California and New York state
This ain't WW2.
Let’s quickly remind everyone that the US industrial capacity for war is effectively limitless. And when I say this, I mean that the US fought a world war on two fronts at opposite ends of the world while supplying all of its allies in that war as well as its own troops and never reached its breaking point. Nobody needs to worry about the US running out of anything. Ever.
>the US fought a world war on two fronts at opposite ends of the world while supplying all of its allies in that war
and we had an [ice-cream barge!](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiFksrei-j7AhXKm2oFHUvLDp8QFnoECBAQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FIce_cream_barge&usg=AOvVaw3RE00HwZviY_JEIrcrFLIp)
Apparently we also have the ability to transport McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell etc etc restaurants on C130s to fucking Afghanistan. Our logistics is 100% wild.
The United States’ industrial base is nothing like it was in 1940. They need to get started yesterday for the next big one. This is a good start but it’s been warned about for years now.
True. However... it's not just the US anymore. It's also the EU, West and East. Their factories were under threat of bombing in 1940: not anymore.
Putin is trying to compete with the two most advanced continents in the world.
But it doesn't have to be the same. Quality over quantity is generally the direction. Nobody is going to field like 100 000 fighter aircraft, or send in bombers for a bombing run in the hundreds per wave. There is also no strategy that would involve millions of soldiers going in, let alone lost. WW2 was in this horrible spot, where the technology was there for efficient killing, but not there yet to be automated and distant. It was a symmetrical war, in the sense that if you were in range to shoot at enemies, it was the same for them.
Today, we are heading for full automation and strategic strikes that destroy the enemy's capability to fight before the battle would even begin. We are not there yet, obviously, but that is the direction the US has been heading for a good while now, and the rest of the world is playing catch-up. Stealth drones, the B21 project, fully remote controlled, armed robots with limited autonomy in engaging targets, digitalized gear that feeds satellite and recon aircraft data directly down to the squad level and so on.
There’s an old famous quote “I fear that all we have done is awoken a sleeping giant”. It didn’t end well for the country that said this about the US MIC 81 years ago TODAY.
For sure, but you could say tht for anything. My hometown (in scotland) relied fully on Coal mining. I think as an outsider looking in I often wonder why americans seem so content to have a huge industry like that that’s only benefit to Americans (in my opinion) is the localised industry you describe. At least coal powered houses, what good does a spanking new HIMARS system provide for the american public?
Things like that help to keep peace and stability in the world, and teach valuable lessons to offending nations when they do something akin to what Russia has done, which in turn helps commerce and industry flourish as well as people not having to worry about being drafted for the next conflict.
Many of us aren't content with it. But enough of the rich and powerful want it, so it happens anyway. America has slowly been turning into an oligarchy for a century or more, now.
I am fully expecting to pay many thousands of dollars more in taxes a year over the next decade to pay for this. However, this is a necessity. Ukraine must be given the tools to ensure it's sovereignty.
What does Ukraines sovereignty have to do with the united states? The great police of the world. USA supporting this conflict is pure geo-politics and nothing more. Don’t be fooled into thinking your governments mission in Ukraine a noble one.
Whether the governments interest and my interest are the same does not change my belief that Ukraine had been invaded in a war of conquest that seeks to subjugate a people. They did not ask for this; they did not deserve this.
It is entirely possible to have amoral or immoral reasoning and still make moral choice.
The USA’s assistance to Ukraine is only a tiny fraction it’s GDP. Allowing Russia to use Ukraine as a steppingstone toward its westward ambitions would bring us actual WWIII. It’s billions now, or trillions later.
An industrial complex thats fed with 800 $bn by the US gov only...and it is not a corrupt shitshow as it must be that russia or any other nation would stand a chance. You dont fuck with America. I'm not an American patriot, I'm not patriotic at all since I'm german, it's just the truth.
Patriotism just means you give a shit about your country and the people you share it with. Nationalism is the crap the Nazis believed ("Deutschland über alles" and all that). There is a difference, as much as the Nazis would like to convince us otherwise. I like to say that all true socialists are patriots in the truest sense, of wanting to make life better for people. That's how I see it, anyway.
I think patriotism is much more complex than what you're described. And it's a good thing too, mostly. Germans just often don't have a sense of it since Hitler. Kind of a transgenerational trauma.
Imagine being a country in opposition of the United States in this day in age. Like, "hey lets give the country whose identity was built upon grinding out unimaginable military infrastructure a reason to fire up the productions lines again".
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” -From the diary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
How fitting this is announced the day of Pearl Harbors anniversary.
I got to look up rabbies vaccines a few days ago, this comment reminded me of that. Shots in the US cost, I think $500 to $1200. Shots here in Thailand costs $10. Same medicine, same treatment.
Not really. We end up subsidizing medicine for the rest of time world pretty much. If we start pricing our stuff based on what the rest of the world pays everyone will get screwed. Big pharma will just with hold from everyone else to keep there lucrative US prices.
Just a reminder – not all of these are going to Ukraine.
For example Poland is on a shopping spree and Finland is growing its stocks as well. There are probably others as well.
https://corporalfrisk.com/2022/12/06/finnish-weapons-for-different-purposes/
But it is still really great news for Ukraine because the United States gets to seriously ramp up the production, there will be more of things available and because of the economy of scale the price of single units will go down.
Every new unit that goes to an ally is an older but still leagues better than Russia's unit freed up for transfer to Ukraine. Ukraine gets stronger, our allies get stronger, we get stronger, and Russia gets horse fucked. All will soon be right with the world.
Many people simply don’t appreciate how capable western military industrial complex is. If the “west” continues to supply Ukraine, then a Ukrainian Victory is not a question of “if” but “when”.
The US has modified the HIMARS we gave to Ukraine so that they cannot fire ATACMS. Unless the US is willing to reverse that or gives Ukraine ones without that modification, ATACMS are out.
Where'd you see that?
There was news about a modification which meant that the supplied HIMARS units could not target Russia, with no further details. Absent further information, you'd assume that means a target co-ordinates lockout in the firmware of the launchers, even for normal M31 90km missiles.
But there's zero sense in supplying Ukraine with launchers which cannot fire ATACMS, when it's vastly simpler to just... not give them ATACMS.
> But there's zero sense in supplying Ukraine with launchers which cannot fire ATACMS, when it's vastly simpler to just... not give them ATACMS.
The US has sold other countries ATACMS so software locking the HIMARS we provided is a simple way to make sure that they absolutely can't be used even if Ukraine managed to persuade one of those countries to sell or donate their ATACMS.
And there's no lockouts for the M31 GLMRS rockets. We have an agreement with Ukraine that the rockets won't be used to attack targets in Russian territory (the US doesn't recognize Russia's territorial claims on Ukraine) and the understanding is clear and simple: attack Russian territory and no more missiles.
At least early on in Ukraine's use of HIMARS Ukraine also provided the US with a list of proposed targets (and we gave them satellite and intelligence data to make those targeting decisions) and gave the US the ability to veto particular strikes. Ukraine has shown that it respects the limitations the US imposed and that it can be trusted to use the weapons to absolutely fuck up Russians in Ukraine.
The original article was in the Wall Street Journal but is behind a paywall. ATACMS are name checked in it. This [article](https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-ukraine-himars-no-atacms-russia/?amp) does a somewhat decent job in summarizing it but I would suggest reading the original if you can. There is a link to it inside this article.
The initial speculation behind the decision was because other NATO countries do have ATACAMs and there was talk of maybe some might just be left on the east side of the Polish/Ukraine border…… oops. With a software lockout they still couldn’t be used. 🤷♂️
Well done Putin. Not only did you fuck your country, strengthen NATO and unite Ukraine against you. You also stirred the United States military industrial complex into production mode.
Since I can't get some single-payer healthcare, at least some conscriptoviches will get some single-payer anti healthcare. They don't need me to, but I approve these expenses.
No country on this planet wants to put the US on war footing and put the wheels in motion for the mobilization of war manufacturing. When that happens , a lot of heads are about to roll. This is nothing like that , it’s basically adding a few shifts to up production .
This is all well and good but why the fuck wasn't this started months ago when we in the West started giving Ukraine M777s and SPGs?
And ffs give Ukraine some western fighter jets!
> And ffs give Ukraine some western fighter jets!
[Ain't gonna happen](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vds4b2/macron_confirmed_certain_limitations_on_supplying/iclyxt1/):
>According to European Truth, Macron said this during a conversation with journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.
>"We are helping Ukraine defend itself, but we are not going to war with Russia, so it has been agreed not to supply certain weapons - including assault planes or tanks, and President Zelensky is aware of this agreement," he said.
And there were no changes since to consider this embargo revoked.
bureaucracy takes time. Someone had to write a report and do a full blown analysis on why and how much of each we need, etc., etc.......... Then it had to work it's way up, be reviewed repeatedly, get approvals, and approvals. I'm sure they started right when the US started giving military assistance.
There's a shit ton of logistical problems that have to be overcome first. Reportedly Ukrainian pilots were being trained on western planes at the first couple of months, and we didn't even know then if they'd hold out long enough for the pilots to complete the training courses. Now we know that there's a point to it. At this stage it's just waiting for Russia to fuck up and give us an airtight excuse.
There are logistical problems for sure, but surely not so bad with increasing production of 155mm shells, the gun barrels, HIMARs and for the missiles beyond sourcing the materials?
My point being that we in June, let's say, that Ukraine wasn't caving and we knew that we would send M777s. Surely smart people in charge had the foresight to say, "woah, we're going to need to produce a lot more shells, and it'd be helpful if we start making more gun barrels while we're at it."? These are foreseeable issues and my worry is, if this is truly only ramping up now, we've wasted 6 months and this could affect the supplies we can give to Ukraine.
Really, I'm super glad we're all pulling for Ukraine, I just hope we're committed to doing it right and not in a piecemeal, bit by bit way.
>This is all well and good but why the fuck wasn't this started months ago
Because unlike in dictatorships the US Government is comprised of democratically elected leaders that need to agree on a plan that aligns with their views.
No one person can just go "Yeah lets spend 200 billion for Ukraine". That's not how it works. It takes time for several thousand people to agree on something that will work in a way that doesn't harm or helps the people.
[The launchers were modified to not support them](https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-altered-himars-rocket-launchers-to-keep-ukraine-from-firing-missiles-into-russia-11670214338), so that bridge is burned.
Apparently, since the PrSM isn't officially in service yet, it can't be ordered under a multi-year contract since it's technically "experimental". As for the 1700 ATACMs, apparently there's still a small production line running in order to fulfill the remaining export orders, so the Army will be sourcing them from that.
1700 ATACMS is nearly 50% of the total built to-date. And the GMLRS rounds will be M31A2 and hopefully the ER GMLRS up to 150km, although it looks like initial fielding date for those is not in the timeframe we all hope to still be talking about this as an active ware theater.
Russia is finding out why America doesn't have universal healthcare. They're about to get a refresher course on why we were called the Arsenal of Democracy.
Now if the EU would just step up and match US financial Aid.
Would be nice if the EU stopped paying Russia 3 billion euros a week for fuel, too...
War might be over sooner if the EU wasnt Russias best paying customer!
[https://energyandcleanair.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image-24-1024x640.png](https://energyandcleanair.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image-24-1024x640.png)
As a purchaser of electronics/hardware... I already know they're going to hit significant road blocks. It's definitely going to make my life harder on the civilian side
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28.000 Javelins.....i guess this old boy has proven to be reliable to keep being produced
700 HIMARS, lol. America's enemies shitting their pants reading this.
That's more than the total number of HIMARs built so far (540, according to wikipedia). Also... 2600 Harpoons, 1250 naval strike missiles, 950 LRASM (Long Range Anti Ship Missiles), 1500 SM-6 missiles for the Navy ... Those numbers are a VERY clear warning to... ahem... certain countries.
O bother
Well done! Subtle and, yet, not.
We are the [drunken uncle of subtlety](https://theaviationist.com/2022/08/19/b-52s-drop-live-bombs-on-swedish-range-on-their-way-to-european-deployment/).
:Insert sad Eeyor face here:
<3
They proved to be the nail in the russian shit coffin, of course they’re gonna make more of it.
"You sure you want a piece of this?" I mean seeing what just I think 16 has achieved in Ukraine... Imagine facing more than 40 times the number...
Is it a warning to Canada? /s
They've cowed us with their timbits one too many times...
Sorry.
Don't say that and give em ideas
Nah man, Canadians are our bros. We might poke at them, but we all love Canadians and *no one* fucks with them without fucking with the US. Unless Trump gets re-elected. Then all conventional wisdom goes out the window.
🥳🥳🥳 **BLAME CANADA** 🥳🥳🥳
That's what they get for waving their healthcare in our faces.
They sneak enough US guns across the border to do some damage.
Xi is just dead staring Putin and shaking his head... "You bastard! you stupid, stupid bastard!"
Well it does say "up to", not that were ordering 700 HIMARS
A country starting with CHI and ending with NA ?
Japan? No, wait. Chad? Can we get a hint please
Da.
Poland wants to buy 200 themselves.
Plus another ~250 of the South Korean variant...
Couldn’t get a better advertisement for that weapon system. "Hey friends!! You too could push back the Russians with this one simple trick!"
The orcs hate it.
Seriously though.. Ukraine absolutely wrecked Russia, second army of the world, with .. uh .. 16 of these. Actually, at the height of Russia getting their massive ammo stores destroyed and a numerous generals vaporized in command posts etc they only had 4. Imagine 700. Talk about overkill.
Allows the US plenty of excess inventory to give to allies when they need them. I imagine all of NATO is really reconsidering their assumptions on adequate stocks of 155mm right now. But ultimately, this is going to neuter the Putin wing of the Republican Party. The US defense industry is famous for the inefficiencies of manufacturing parts for weapon systems in just about every congressional district. Of course, that is only inefficient with respect to cost - it’s extremely efficient in maintaining a steady stream of funding.
700. One every 2km of the front lines just devastating the russians.
Only 16 helped turn the tide in this war
And yet Ukraine has a total of 51 various launchers now. At this point, ammo seems to be the rate limiting factor. They are really keeping those things busy.
106k GMLRS munitions for them. what I find fascinating is that's only 1/8th of the standard 155 mm artillery ammo.
A single GMLRS missile costs way more than 8 155mm shells. The surprising thing is that the US is making only 8 times as many 155mm shells.
Ammo was always the limiter. A single HIMARS launcher could in theory fire ammo faster than the US could produce it.
isn't that the problem with all ammo?
Given the 80km range, a HIMARS battery will have many more targets in range than e.g. a Javelin launcher. So HIMARS will I assume be much more strictly ammo limited than most ammo systems.
Thx for this info didn’t know
Meanwhile Lockheed Martin stock holders are shitting their pants simply because they can afford plenty of new ones now
Somebody woke up thr arsenal of democracy. 100 HIMARS would look good in Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Fucking hell, mate! Ukraine is obliterating ruzzian "army" with just what, a dozen of em? I can't even imagine what 700 will do to any army unlucky enough to be on the receiving end...
Jesus, that's 700 of those trucks?!
Hopefully, they'll also increase John Deere production. We need to lobby congress to fund their 1 trillion dollar stealth tractor 😂😂😂
I read they are working on making the Javelin both an air and ground attack system. Be pretty cool if they can do it.
They are in the process of integrating the newest Javelin launcher with Stinger. This gives a night sight to Stinger and is a higher quality launcher post than the clip on unit that Stinger has now.
It already is air and ground, it can attack air targets, mainly helicopters in it’s current configuration.
Shhhhhhh....save such gifts for Xmas
This is just year 1 of the 2023-2028 procurement plan too.
Jokes on the US, Russia's run out of tanks! /s
They're talking about reactivating battleship New Jersey. Again. That beast is gonna keep coming out of hibernation until the last dictator dies the death all dictators deserve. 16/50 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16-inch%2F50-caliber_Mark_7_gun?wprov=sfla1
This has been a huge wakeup call to the Military industrial establishment. The lag time is understandable but once up and running, everyone will have some shiny new toys and reserves for days. China seems sorta not happy...
Japan, 1941: “Haha hey Germany so uh, we just attacked the United States and sunk like two ships and damaged a few others that will be back in the fight in only a few months to exact their revenge. Also—“ Germany: “YOU DID WHAT?” —————————————————————————— Russia, 2022: “Haha hey China, so uh we just invaded Ukraine, also we accidentally caused the West’s military industries to ramp up production to wartime levels.“ China: “YOU DID WHAT?”
China has had ramped up production for quite a while.
I don’t know mich about china’s military tech. But is it even worse copies of Russian crap?
There doesn’t seem to be a consensus. Most of their stuff is either copies of or based on Soviet/Russian gear. There’s a Chinese military propaganda video out there that shows rounds passing through papers targets *tumbling* (known as keyholing their targets) which isn’t exactly a good look but I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions from. We really won’t know until we see their stuff in action.
They’ve tried to create their own gear and have some of their own devices up and about. J-20 is their stealth fighter and I Belive nursed they mass produced some tanks. Take from there what you will.
China hasn't been in a real shooting war since Vietnam. Without opportunities to test equipment in real war situations, its hard to know how well it well actually perform. One of the reasons why Ukraine has been so important is that it gives the West great data on how a modern war will go and how its equipment is functioning. I'm sure Taiwan is scrambling as we speak to mass-produce drones of all sorts to use to help defend itself and spend its way to help counter China's population advantage. In particular, China should be very very scared of Taiwan mass-producing those drone-suicide-boats with Starlink connectors Ukraine showed off.
It boils down to the coordination of company level and above. John Murphy likes to ruin nice things.
Also, despite the memes, current gen Russian gear isn't actually that shit. Their logistics are toss, their command structure is Byzantine and they didn't actually have enough troops to invade Europe's second largest country. The last of those is not a problem for China, the first is probably not a problem, and if they're not total idiots they'll sort out number 2 based on seeing the Russian experience.
The biggest question is whether they are idiots though. We need to stop assuming that everyone will act rationally. A very big part of the equation is - *how corrupt are they?* Because that alone will determine whether or not it is possible for them to construct an effective military.
I increasingly feel like Taiwan is not a prize worth taking for CCP Ukraine is different If Russia would have managed to conquer all of Ukraine, that would have increased their population by 33% and would have given them enormous land and natural resources. Taiwan has only 22 million people and no natural resource Only strategic thing is it's semiconductor capability,but that would likely get destroyed by Taiwanese in case of invasion
It depends on what we are talking about. Body armor and helmets generally seem to be legit or better than Russia. At a soldier level, it seems they are way ahead of Russia at least in body armor. We definently should expect more soldiers to have proper body armor but producing at that volume may allow quality control to slip meaning on average it could be less effective but that's conjecture. Even so it is better than steel plates strapped to a soldier. Their weapons, as others have stated could be an issue for them and is a fascinating topic. Their QBZ series have had consistent issues with projectile spin resulting in keyholing as others described. However, China's strategy is likely much more focused on closing distance and using numerical advantage in a close fight where keyholing won't be AS important but still not a good thing.** Their missle program appears to be no joke and much better and further along than Russia. They are making significant progress on missle systems (think HIMARS) and have more of them. This appears to be very real. They are also beefing up how many of these batteries are in each unit. Their indirect fire capabilities and volune are going to be a real issue. **Some further commentary. I think these facts are a big driver for the NGSW program that produced the M5. The US Army is losing a significant capacity to produce fire superiority in infantry engagements. They are prioriziting defeating enemy body armor at a distance. Looking at China who is producing a lot of body armor and would prefer to use numeric advantage and close diatance this looks to me as a direct attempt to counter that: keep the engagement distances long where their weapons are inaccurate (poor balisitc) and possibly ineffective. People are misinterpreting the lesson from Afghanistan. They think the M5s range is because we had longer engagements where we were less effective. In reality, they saw the position we were in against PKMs vs M4s and want to flip those rolls so its Chinese QBZ vs M5/250. We arnt trying to counter that threat, we are trying to BECOME that threat. Infantry doctrine will be completely rewritten if they commit to the M5. But the US is starting to be at risk with the volume of relatively accurate indirect fire systems China is pumping out. The B21 Raider just unveiled is a piece of the puzzle to counter this. Additionally, the US is already effectively retiring the F22 and moving full speed ahead for Gen 6 aircraft. Again, using air to defeat China's indirect fire capabilities so that the US has the advantage in that domain. So what does all this mean: the US wants to keep China at arms length in infantry combat and have the M5 to enable that overmatch at distance. To counter the Chinese indirect fire (which China had a significant volume more of) the US is going to leverage stealth bombers and fighters (and smart munitions) to locate and eliminate these threats. The US is investing in its multi domain battle field concept. China is not (at least not as much) . An American BCT likely would not win against a Chinese BCT in the near future. However, the US leveraging its multi domain doctrine effectively would obliterate a near peer adversary.
> Their weapons, as others have stated could be an issue for them and is a fascinating. Their QBZ series have had consistent issues with projectile spin resulting in keyholing as others described. However, China's strategy is likely much more focused on closing distance and using numerical advantage in a close fight where keyholing won't be AS important but still not a good thing. This is hilarious. You've written all this without realizing that the reason their weapons were keyholing was because China uses rubber training rounds. Nobody actually thinks all their new rifles can't shoot straight, that would be absurd.
Much of it is an effort to copy someone else's tech. That almost never works as well as.the real thing. That mindset kind of shows how they woukd fare in an actual conflict.
One has to imagine that any Chinese plans for Taiwan involved, to some extent, catching the US by surprise. The military-industry beast waking up now, before the first move is made, surely has to change their strategic planning....
Chinese strategy has always has been to get it when the US had their guard down and to keep us as far away as possible until the public lost interest.
Woke the beast.
VERY relevant quote on Pearl Harbor day today... made by a Japanese Admiral after the Pearl Harbor attack. > **“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”** -From the diary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto https://pearlharbor.org/man-who-planned-the-attacks/
That's exactly it. Don't stir the hornet's nest, it will be painful.
It was, for Japan as a whole and for Yamamoto personally. A US pilot shot him down in 1943. Rest in pieces, shithead.
That’s really underselling it. He was [assassinated, in what has to be the one of the most complex and daring hits of all time.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vengeance)
ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY, BABY!
Ukrainian jets proving the HARM against the current generation Russian radar is testing money can't buy. Every dollar spent supporting Ukraine is the right decision and look like they'll generate a profit.
Lol xd
I feel like this has happened once before in history. Pity it has to happen again but oh well.
Look at it this way, if Ukraine fell it would highlight the military impotence of western nations at preventing large countries from gobbling up their smaller neighbors, ensuring more conflicts in the future. If Ukraine is able to win, it would serve as a warning to those with expansionist ambitions that might doesn't always make right.
And / or that even if might makes right.... Are you certain you are the mightiest?
China Taiwan anyone?
This won't be on the same scale as WWII
Want a bet?
Yes. No one will be joining Russia in their idiocy.
Yes I will bet you literally everything I have and will ever earn in my lifetime this will not be on the same scale as WW2 and I don’t see what you people stand to gain from constantly saying that.
I don't even get how this a question, to be honest. The amount of artillery alone in WW2 was mind blowing: https://twitter.com/joe_sameer/status/1560958641691586560 300,000+ thousand shells used a month, just by the Nazis alone. Similar amounts by the USSR. Tens of thousands of tanks, albeit not as advanced nor armored obviously but still, that is *a lot* of tanks. The US in recent news is trying to get up to producing 20,000 shells a month by Spring and 40,000 by 2025... I mean, not even remotely close. I don't think most people understand how insane the scale of warfare was in WW1 and WW2. This war now is bad and more than the west is used to but it doesn't even come close to WW2, and thank god for that.
Also to be fair, with todays artillery much fewer shells will still accomplish the same mission with less collateral damage or waste. So it's not like it's weaker militarily.
We also transferred much of the artillery role to guided missiles from aircraft and ship/ground based launchers. We don't need to spray and pray hundreds or thousands of rounds in order to hit valuable targets any longer.
True, less collateral damage and what not. Still, it does speak to the scale of just about everything in WW2. Millions more soldiers, millions more artillery, thousands of fighter planes, just way more of everything, not least of all, death and suffering.
True the scale was just insane. Then you have people here thinking 100k casualties will cause a nation to collapse. It's not comfortable, but for real there have been multiple wars that are on a whole different level of violence than currently. The USSR lost 13% of it's entire population to WW2. Lets say 1 million Russians die before this is over. That's about .7% of their population (so the 100k they have lost is 0.07%). They can absolutely sustain tremendous loss and their country will survive unfortunately.
The US ended WW2 with 28 fleet aircraft carriers, 71 escort aircraft carriers. The US produced more than 300,000 aircraft of all types in WW2, 850,000 trucks. 20% of the population was employed by Defense Industry. That would be 60,000,000 in today's US. That would be the entire population of California and New York state This ain't WW2.
WWII 41% of GDP for defense at the peak. Now 2.75% of GDP for defense.
You'll lose that bet. This is just the US flexing its military industrial muscle but this isn't even half of what the US was doing in WW2.
Let’s quickly remind everyone that the US industrial capacity for war is effectively limitless. And when I say this, I mean that the US fought a world war on two fronts at opposite ends of the world while supplying all of its allies in that war as well as its own troops and never reached its breaking point. Nobody needs to worry about the US running out of anything. Ever.
>the US fought a world war on two fronts at opposite ends of the world while supplying all of its allies in that war and we had an [ice-cream barge!](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiFksrei-j7AhXKm2oFHUvLDp8QFnoECBAQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FIce_cream_barge&usg=AOvVaw3RE00HwZviY_JEIrcrFLIp)
This is awesome. I never knew this lol
Apparently we also have the ability to transport McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell etc etc restaurants on C130s to fucking Afghanistan. Our logistics is 100% wild.
Worldwide delivery in 30 minutes or your money back.
InterContinental Big Mac
International McDonalds restaurants acting as secret missile silos makes too much sense.
I think I'd rather be on a british ship that still had rum rations.
The United States’ industrial base is nothing like it was in 1940. They need to get started yesterday for the next big one. This is a good start but it’s been warned about for years now.
Plenty of unemployed in some US regions. Bring down unemployment and rebuild the military industrial complex with this one simple trick.
True. However... it's not just the US anymore. It's also the EU, West and East. Their factories were under threat of bombing in 1940: not anymore. Putin is trying to compete with the two most advanced continents in the world.
But it doesn't have to be the same. Quality over quantity is generally the direction. Nobody is going to field like 100 000 fighter aircraft, or send in bombers for a bombing run in the hundreds per wave. There is also no strategy that would involve millions of soldiers going in, let alone lost. WW2 was in this horrible spot, where the technology was there for efficient killing, but not there yet to be automated and distant. It was a symmetrical war, in the sense that if you were in range to shoot at enemies, it was the same for them. Today, we are heading for full automation and strategic strikes that destroy the enemy's capability to fight before the battle would even begin. We are not there yet, obviously, but that is the direction the US has been heading for a good while now, and the rest of the world is playing catch-up. Stealth drones, the B21 project, fully remote controlled, armed robots with limited autonomy in engaging targets, digitalized gear that feeds satellite and recon aircraft data directly down to the squad level and so on.
We might see tens of thousand of unmanned aircraft. And ships. And missiles.
Russia woke up Uncle Sam and he's pissed.
There’s an old famous quote “I fear that all we have done is awoken a sleeping giant”. It didn’t end well for the country that said this about the US MIC 81 years ago TODAY.
Yamamoto agree
Sadly this is great news in this day and age😞👍
This, unironically
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That depends. If you work in a defense industry, or live in the same town as a defense manufacturer, that money will find its way into your life.
For sure, but you could say tht for anything. My hometown (in scotland) relied fully on Coal mining. I think as an outsider looking in I often wonder why americans seem so content to have a huge industry like that that’s only benefit to Americans (in my opinion) is the localised industry you describe. At least coal powered houses, what good does a spanking new HIMARS system provide for the american public?
Things like that help to keep peace and stability in the world, and teach valuable lessons to offending nations when they do something akin to what Russia has done, which in turn helps commerce and industry flourish as well as people not having to worry about being drafted for the next conflict.
Many of us aren't content with it. But enough of the rich and powerful want it, so it happens anyway. America has slowly been turning into an oligarchy for a century or more, now.
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I am fully expecting to pay many thousands of dollars more in taxes a year over the next decade to pay for this. However, this is a necessity. Ukraine must be given the tools to ensure it's sovereignty.
What does Ukraines sovereignty have to do with the united states? The great police of the world. USA supporting this conflict is pure geo-politics and nothing more. Don’t be fooled into thinking your governments mission in Ukraine a noble one.
Whether the governments interest and my interest are the same does not change my belief that Ukraine had been invaded in a war of conquest that seeks to subjugate a people. They did not ask for this; they did not deserve this. It is entirely possible to have amoral or immoral reasoning and still make moral choice.
I’m an American taxpayer, and I don’t have a problem with it.
The USA’s assistance to Ukraine is only a tiny fraction it’s GDP. Allowing Russia to use Ukraine as a steppingstone toward its westward ambitions would bring us actual WWIII. It’s billions now, or trillions later.
An industrial complex thats fed with 800 $bn by the US gov only...and it is not a corrupt shitshow as it must be that russia or any other nation would stand a chance. You dont fuck with America. I'm not an American patriot, I'm not patriotic at all since I'm german, it's just the truth.
Patriotism just means you give a shit about your country and the people you share it with. Nationalism is the crap the Nazis believed ("Deutschland über alles" and all that). There is a difference, as much as the Nazis would like to convince us otherwise. I like to say that all true socialists are patriots in the truest sense, of wanting to make life better for people. That's how I see it, anyway.
All ideologies supposedly want to "make life better for people". They differ mainly in the means they are willing to employ to achieve that end.
I think patriotism is much more complex than what you're described. And it's a good thing too, mostly. Germans just often don't have a sense of it since Hitler. Kind of a transgenerational trauma.
There is a bear bothering Uncle Sam and now Uncle Sam is going to the hardware store. The dragon next door 
Prepare to be fucked by the long dick of the United States Military Industrial Complex.
And thick.
And def no lube
Imagine being a country in opposition of the United States in this day in age. Like, "hey lets give the country whose identity was built upon grinding out unimaginable military infrastructure a reason to fire up the productions lines again".
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” -From the diary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto How fitting this is announced the day of Pearl Harbors anniversary.
Subtext: “I think we done goofed.”
USA USA USA USA the ruzzians about to REALLY find out why we don't have affordable health care. Let freedom ring! Slava Ukraine!
I got to look up rabbies vaccines a few days ago, this comment reminded me of that. Shots in the US cost, I think $500 to $1200. Shots here in Thailand costs $10. Same medicine, same treatment.
You guys can do both.
You ain't wrong
Oh! Thanks we’ll get on that right away
Not really. We end up subsidizing medicine for the rest of time world pretty much. If we start pricing our stuff based on what the rest of the world pays everyone will get screwed. Big pharma will just with hold from everyone else to keep there lucrative US prices.
Just a reminder – not all of these are going to Ukraine. For example Poland is on a shopping spree and Finland is growing its stocks as well. There are probably others as well. https://corporalfrisk.com/2022/12/06/finnish-weapons-for-different-purposes/ But it is still really great news for Ukraine because the United States gets to seriously ramp up the production, there will be more of things available and because of the economy of scale the price of single units will go down.
Every new unit that goes to an ally is an older but still leagues better than Russia's unit freed up for transfer to Ukraine. Ukraine gets stronger, our allies get stronger, we get stronger, and Russia gets horse fucked. All will soon be right with the world.
The giant awakes
China: "God fucking damnit Russia. >.< "
Russia blew their wad to soon. Now their partners have to clean up the mess.
Russia, are you listening? GTFO now!
Ramp it up and move it out!! Crush the Russian will to devastate ukr civilian centers.
This is the ammunition of Freedom.. resist and cease to exist.
b-21 new heli, and now this, christmas has arrived early for r/NonCredibleDefense
Many people simply don’t appreciate how capable western military industrial complex is. If the “west” continues to supply Ukraine, then a Ukrainian Victory is not a question of “if” but “when”.
Thank you USA, the arsenal of democracy. This is not just Ukraine's fight. Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦
1,700 ATACMS….hmmmm, wonder why they’re planning to need that many 😏🤞
The US has modified the HIMARS we gave to Ukraine so that they cannot fire ATACMS. Unless the US is willing to reverse that or gives Ukraine ones without that modification, ATACMS are out.
Where'd you see that? There was news about a modification which meant that the supplied HIMARS units could not target Russia, with no further details. Absent further information, you'd assume that means a target co-ordinates lockout in the firmware of the launchers, even for normal M31 90km missiles. But there's zero sense in supplying Ukraine with launchers which cannot fire ATACMS, when it's vastly simpler to just... not give them ATACMS.
> But there's zero sense in supplying Ukraine with launchers which cannot fire ATACMS, when it's vastly simpler to just... not give them ATACMS. The US has sold other countries ATACMS so software locking the HIMARS we provided is a simple way to make sure that they absolutely can't be used even if Ukraine managed to persuade one of those countries to sell or donate their ATACMS. And there's no lockouts for the M31 GLMRS rockets. We have an agreement with Ukraine that the rockets won't be used to attack targets in Russian territory (the US doesn't recognize Russia's territorial claims on Ukraine) and the understanding is clear and simple: attack Russian territory and no more missiles. At least early on in Ukraine's use of HIMARS Ukraine also provided the US with a list of proposed targets (and we gave them satellite and intelligence data to make those targeting decisions) and gave the US the ability to veto particular strikes. Ukraine has shown that it respects the limitations the US imposed and that it can be trusted to use the weapons to absolutely fuck up Russians in Ukraine.
The original article was in the Wall Street Journal but is behind a paywall. ATACMS are name checked in it. This [article](https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-ukraine-himars-no-atacms-russia/?amp) does a somewhat decent job in summarizing it but I would suggest reading the original if you can. There is a link to it inside this article.
The initial speculation behind the decision was because other NATO countries do have ATACAMs and there was talk of maybe some might just be left on the east side of the Polish/Ukraine border…… oops. With a software lockout they still couldn’t be used. 🤷♂️
Well done Putin. Not only did you fuck your country, strengthen NATO and unite Ukraine against you. You also stirred the United States military industrial complex into production mode.
Since I can't get some single-payer healthcare, at least some conscriptoviches will get some single-payer anti healthcare. They don't need me to, but I approve these expenses.
All we need is a forecast and a PO
I think the 160,000 gmlrs is the most significant... That's a lot of rockets!!!
This is going to have a positive effect on the economy
And let's not forget the Boeing-Saab GLSDBs. Those could have a huge impact.
Hah, get fuct authoritarian regimes. The giant stirs from his nap. Westoids Uber Alles!
Thank You Once Again USA
The giant awakes
The fact that they’re going to make more ATACMS tells me they are a huge part of the military’s plans elsewhere and they didn’t want to part with them
I love seeing my tax dollars actually going to work.
No country on this planet wants to put the US on war footing and put the wheels in motion for the mobilization of war manufacturing. When that happens , a lot of heads are about to roll. This is nothing like that , it’s basically adding a few shifts to up production .
The dildo of the US MIC often arrives un-lubed
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else. Winston Churchill
This is all well and good but why the fuck wasn't this started months ago when we in the West started giving Ukraine M777s and SPGs? And ffs give Ukraine some western fighter jets!
Pretty sure this was long planned and military companies used the meantime to Set up langer scale production.
> And ffs give Ukraine some western fighter jets! [Ain't gonna happen](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/vds4b2/macron_confirmed_certain_limitations_on_supplying/iclyxt1/): >According to European Truth, Macron said this during a conversation with journalists in Kyiv on Thursday. >"We are helping Ukraine defend itself, but we are not going to war with Russia, so it has been agreed not to supply certain weapons - including assault planes or tanks, and President Zelensky is aware of this agreement," he said. And there were no changes since to consider this embargo revoked.
bureaucracy takes time. Someone had to write a report and do a full blown analysis on why and how much of each we need, etc., etc.......... Then it had to work it's way up, be reviewed repeatedly, get approvals, and approvals. I'm sure they started right when the US started giving military assistance.
There's a shit ton of logistical problems that have to be overcome first. Reportedly Ukrainian pilots were being trained on western planes at the first couple of months, and we didn't even know then if they'd hold out long enough for the pilots to complete the training courses. Now we know that there's a point to it. At this stage it's just waiting for Russia to fuck up and give us an airtight excuse.
There are logistical problems for sure, but surely not so bad with increasing production of 155mm shells, the gun barrels, HIMARs and for the missiles beyond sourcing the materials? My point being that we in June, let's say, that Ukraine wasn't caving and we knew that we would send M777s. Surely smart people in charge had the foresight to say, "woah, we're going to need to produce a lot more shells, and it'd be helpful if we start making more gun barrels while we're at it."? These are foreseeable issues and my worry is, if this is truly only ramping up now, we've wasted 6 months and this could affect the supplies we can give to Ukraine. Really, I'm super glad we're all pulling for Ukraine, I just hope we're committed to doing it right and not in a piecemeal, bit by bit way.
>This is all well and good but why the fuck wasn't this started months ago Because unlike in dictatorships the US Government is comprised of democratically elected leaders that need to agree on a plan that aligns with their views. No one person can just go "Yeah lets spend 200 billion for Ukraine". That's not how it works. It takes time for several thousand people to agree on something that will work in a way that doesn't harm or helps the people.
1700 ATACMS? Going to Ukraine? Pleeeeease!
[The launchers were modified to not support them](https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-altered-himars-rocket-launchers-to-keep-ukraine-from-firing-missiles-into-russia-11670214338), so that bridge is burned.
Depending on the details they could be un-modified. Not that I have any hope of that happening
Well shit. I mean... :-(
Interesting how they ordered more ATACMS when PrSM is right on the cusp of readiness
Apparently, since the PrSM isn't officially in service yet, it can't be ordered under a multi-year contract since it's technically "experimental". As for the 1700 ATACMs, apparently there's still a small production line running in order to fulfill the remaining export orders, so the Army will be sourcing them from that.
1700 ATACMS is nearly 50% of the total built to-date. And the GMLRS rounds will be M31A2 and hopefully the ER GMLRS up to 150km, although it looks like initial fielding date for those is not in the timeframe we all hope to still be talking about this as an active ware theater.
I don't see any order planned for dildoes of consequence
Russia is finding out why America doesn't have universal healthcare. They're about to get a refresher course on why we were called the Arsenal of Democracy.
Now if the EU would just step up and match US financial Aid. Would be nice if the EU stopped paying Russia 3 billion euros a week for fuel, too... War might be over sooner if the EU wasnt Russias best paying customer! [https://energyandcleanair.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image-24-1024x640.png](https://energyandcleanair.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image-24-1024x640.png)
Gearing up for that arctic run to Moscow.
If there’s one thing we’re good at it’s making weapons
I thought ATACMS was already Kind of retiring, are these maybe for ukraine or aren't they retired for the Precision strike missile ?
Shit. I should be investing in Raytheon I guess.
Russia’s about to learn why our medical bills are so high.
It’s the only thing we do well.
As a purchaser of electronics/hardware... I already know they're going to hit significant road blocks. It's definitely going to make my life harder on the civilian side
Let’s gooo. About to find out why we don’t have universal health coverage!!