AV-8HB Harrier pilot Maj. Joseph Swindell inspects a GBU-54 joint direct attack munition during pre-flight checks May 20, 2019, on the flight deck of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) in the Arabian Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryre Arciaga/Navy)
Defense News: Here’s how many bombs the US plans to buy in the next year
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s fiscal 2021 budget request seeks to buy fewer munitions needed for the fights in Afghanistan and Iraq as it attempts to pivot towards investments in the kind of weapons that will be used in a high-end fight against China or Russia.
The DoD has requested $21.3 billion in munitions, including $6 billion for conventional ammunition, $4 billion for strategic missiles and $11.3 billion for tactical missiles. Munitions and missiles make up 8.8 percent of overall procurement in the budget request.
The department is pursuing a two-pronged approach, according to a budget summary provided by the Pentagon. The first is to make sure “U.S. worldwide munition inventories are sufficiently stocked” for ongoing needs. The second is to ensure “sufficient procurement of more advanced high-end weapon systems, which provide increases standoff, enhanced lethality and autonomous targeting for employment against near-peer threats in more contested environment.”
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WNU Editor: That is a lot of bombs.
