Even after spending a record $2.2 trillion on weapons last year, the war in Ukraine has left the world short of ammo

(Originally published April 24 in “What in the World“) War with China over Taiwan may not be inevitable, but the U.S. military still wants new and better weapons to not fight it.

Specifically, the head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Navy Admiral John Aquilino, told the Senate’s Armed Services Committee that IndoPaCom needs three new missiles: the hypersonic SM-6 Block 1B, a Maritime Strike Tomahawk and a future iteration of the Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM Increment 2). 

The SM-6, or Standard Missile-6, was developed by Raytheon to intercept hypersonic missiles and 500 have already been delivered to the Navy. Aquilino wants more for the Army and Marines. Maritime Strike Tomahawks, or Block Va, are being built by Raytheon to enable U.S. forces to hit moving targets at sea. Lockheed Martin’s PrSM Increment 2, as discussed last month, would allow the Army to strike targets up to 1,000km away from mobile launch vehicles like the wheeled M142 Himars or a tracked, M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, or Mlrs. That’s double the range of its current long-range missiles, or Atacms.

In the meantime, Ukraine is still girding for its much-anticipated spring counteroffensive, with troops reportedly taking positions on the eastern banks of the Dnipro near Kherson. Even though arming Ukraine helped drive global defense spending to a record $2.24 trillion last year, the U.S. and its allies are still scrambling to make sure Kyiv doesn’t run out of good ‘ol 155mm artillery shells before the attack even begins. The U.S. has already shipped Ukraine more than 1.5 million rounds, but Ukrainian troops are blasting out roughly 8,000 shells a day. The result: the U.S. and its allies are running low on ammo and Ukraine may run out in a matter of days.

Top-secret U.S. documents leaked by an Air National Guard member reveal, among their many other secrets, that arms deliveries to Ukraine are falling far short of what Ukraine wants and what military planners say it needs to win. Specifically, Ukraine remains short of tanks and air-defense missiles. The U.S. will begin training Ukrainian troops in the next few weeks on how to operate the 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks it has promised Kyiv, but Washington still refuses to give Ukraine F-16 fighter jets, attack drones or long-range Atacms missiles.