![]() ![]() That has had a compounding effect on already dwindling weapons reserves. “We were never stocked for this kind of war to begin with.” “NATO doesn’t really plan to fight wars like this, and by that I mean wars with a super intensive use of artillery systems and lots of tank and gun rounds,” said Frederick Kagan, a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute. But the United States and European allies began to draw down those stockpiles after the fall of the Soviet Union and as Washington pivoted to the war on terrorism as well as a greater reliance on precision munitions and new technologies. “You don’t have to invent the weapons of the 22nd century to do this, but the industry will need a stable demand signal.”ĭuring the Cold War, the United States kept large stockpiles of weapons, rare earths, and other materials to quickly ramp up production if it ever ended up in a shooting war with the Soviet Union. deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy during the Trump administration. “Even if there wasn’t the Ukrainian fight, our stockpiles are still too low,” said Jeb Nadaner, a former U.S. Russian President Vladimir Putin made several “strategic mistakes” ahead of the invasion, including “underestimat NATO allies partners in our commitment to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in remarks on Monday.īut back in Washington, some former officials are wishing that the Biden administration and NATO allies had gotten the message sooner, and they want defense spending, which has boomed since Russia’s full-scale invasion, to continue to spike for the foreseeable future. Although decisions around military aid to Ukraine fall to individual members of the alliance, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly spoken out about the need for continued assistance to Ukraine. NATO is now discussing how to support members if their stockpiles fall below the levels needed to meet their defense obligations under the North Atlantic Treaty, the official said. “I think everyone is now sufficiently worried,’” said a NATO official who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that allies had called on Western defense contractors to ramp up production in the wake of the war. ![]() The paper concludes with a recommendation for governments to start an informal, flexible and long term process to promote better stockpile management.As the war in Ukraine shows little sign of abating, Kyiv’s Western partners are grappling with how to maintain a supply of arms and ammunition to Ukraine, which have proven decisive on the battlefield, without letting their stockpiles dwindle to the point that it could jeopardize their own readiness levels. Stockpile management should be a priority for all governments. In addition, this paper identifies cases of significant losses which have occurred from armed forces not involved in war, and from law enforcement and private citizens and firms. ![]() Severe problems exist in states involved in warfare or its aftermath. This paper provides recent examples of diversion of small arms and ammunition through theft or loss. In addition, improved stockpile management has many other benefits for States, including improvements in record keeping which helps them to identify arms and ammunition in surplus. A stockpile can be defined as a store of weapons or ammunition, and stockpile management is designed to prevent two outcomes: the diversion of arms i nto illicit hands, and unplanned explosions. ![]() pdf This paper highlights the importance of continued national and international attention upon stockpile management of small arms and light weapons. ![]()
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