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Tuesday 3 May 2022

Push to arm Ukraine putting strain on U.S. weapons stockpile

Continued from front The Russian invasion offers tractors, however, face than $2 trillion for the first requested anonymity, said
the U.S. and European de- the same supply chain and time in 2021, according the Pentagon is working
He said that Stingers and fense industry a big oppor- labor shortage challenges to an April report from the with defense contractors
Javelins were where "we're tunity to bolster profits as that other manufactur- Stockholm International "to evaluate the health
seeing the most significant lawmakers from Washing- ers are facing, along with Peace Research Institute. of weapons systems' pro-
inventory issues," and pro- ton to Warsaw are primed some others that are spe- Russia ranked fifth, as its duction lines and examine
duction of both weapons to increase defense spend- cific to the industry. spending on weapons in- bottlenecks in every com-
systems has been limited in ing in response to Russian Globally, total military creased ahead of its inva- ponent and step of the
recent years. aggression. Defense con- spending rose 0.7% to more sion of Ukraine. manufacturing process."
The war will mean in- The administration is also
creased sales for some considering a range of op-
defense contractors, in- tions, if needed, to boost
cluding Raytheon, which production of both Jave-
makes the Stinger mis- lins and Stingers, the official
siles Ukrainian troops have said. Pentagon press sec-
used to knock out Russian retary John Kirby said Mon-
aircraft. The company is day that America's military
also part of a joint venture readiness is not dependent
with Lockheed Martin that on one system, such as the
makes the Javelins. Javelin. He said that every
Biden will visit Lockheed time the Pentagon devel-
Martin's facility in Troy, Ala., ops a package of weap-
which has the capacity to ons to send to Ukraine,
manufacture about 2,100 the chairman of the Joint
Javelins per year. The trip Chiefs of Staff and the
comes as he presses Con- department assesses the
gress to quickly approve his broader impact.
request for an additional "It's not about counting say
$33 billion in security and Javelins and being able to
economic assistance for say that when you reach a
Kyiv, Western allies and re- certain level then all your
stocking weapons the U.S. readiness is gone," Kirby
has sent to those countries. said. "The Javelin is an an-
Senate Majority Leader ti-armor capability, so we
Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., judge it all as a conglomer-
said Monday he hoped ate of what's our ability to
quick bipartisan agree- meet this particular mission
ment on the security pack- set, realizing that a Javelin
age could be reached so isn't the only capability you
the Senate could begin have against armor."
considering it "as early as Cancian, the former gov-
next week." ernment specialist on de-
The president is expect- fense budget strategy,
ed to use his remarks to said the fact that Stingers
highlight the importance and Javelins were not in-
of the Javelins and other cluded in the most recent
U.S. weaponry in helping tranche of weapons the
Ukraine's military put up a Biden administration an-
vigorous fight as he makes nounced it was sending
the case to keep security to Ukraine could be a sign
and economic assistance that Pentagon officials are
flowing. mindful about inventory as
A White House official, they conduct contingency
who was not authorized planning for other possible
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