by TLB staff
War on any level makes money for the Neocons and the Military Industrial Complex.
Shortage of bombs and munitions (*real or not) has always been the cry before and during military actions… even if it means *warehousing some of the supply and “tagging” it as Government Surplus to create a shortage on the “battle field.”
As the article below points out, not only is President Trump running out of bombs, but it also happened during Obama’s watch. It all amounts to one Big Pay Day for Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing.
*********
Trump is Running Out of Bombs
by Kurt Nimmo
The Donald is bombing so many countries so often, he’s running of bombs.
“Critical munitions shortfalls are my top war-fighting concern,” says US Pacific commander Admiral Harry Harris. “We must maintain our capability to operate in contested environments.”
“Priorities include long-range and stand-off strike weapons, anti-ship weapons, advanced air to air munitions, theatre ballistic/cruise missile defence, torpedoes, naval mines, and a Cluster Munitions replacement.”
This is nothing new.
Obama ran out of bombs, too.
In December, 2015 CNN reported:
As the U.S. ramps up its campaign against the Islamist terror group in Iraq and Syria, the Air Force is now “expending munitions faster than we can replenish them,” Air Force chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in a statement.
“B-1s have dropped bombs in record numbers. F-15Es are in the fight because they are able to employ a wide range of weapons and do so with great flexibility. We need the funding in place to ensure we’re prepared for the long fight,” Welsh said in the statement. “This is a critical need.”
The bombing campaign has left the U.S. Air Force with what an Air Force official described as munitions depot stocks “below our desired objective.”
That same month, Reuters reported:
Lockheed has added a third shift at its plant, which employed 325 workers as of February, and is now at “maximum capacity,” said one executive familiar with the issue. The company announced in February that it will add 240 workers by 2020 and expand the facility, which also produces a 2,000-pound air-to-surface stealthy missile.
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer, told Reuters this week there has been particularly strong demand for the Hellfire missiles. At $60,000 to $100,000 apiece [others put the price per unit at $110,000] they are inexpensive compared to many missiles and can be launched from everything from aircraft and helicopters and ships to destroy armored vehicles or punch into buildings.
Another failed missile test by Kim and the Hermit Kingdom has prompted Trump to mobilize a fleet of Grey Eagle drones in South Korea. Each Grey Eagle drone costs $31.2 million.
The deployment means a whole lot of Hellfire missiles will be needed.
The Army’s version of the Predator/Reaper, the Grey Eagle drone, is headed to the Korean Peninsula. @julianborger: https://t.co/O2efMhE5p4
— 2 Lift 2 Teslas (@attackerman) March 14, 2017
Good news for Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing. Not so good for civilians in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Afghanistan.
“Evidence gathered on the ground in East Mosul points to an alarming pattern of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes which have destroyed whole houses with entire families inside,” Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International, told Newsweek in March.
“The high civilian toll suggests that coalition forces leading the offensive in Mosul have failed to take adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
According to Airwars, the US has conducted over 20,000 airstrikes in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, dropped 79,649 bombs and missiles, and killed at minimum 3,164 civilians as of April 30.
*********
Orginal Source article
TLB finds other informative articles at Another Day In The Empire
Leave a Reply