Ammo, Ammo, Ammo

🇺🇦🇺🇸 We are short on ammo, they say, because ammunition companies have not yet ramped up their production of ammo, and our leaders don't know how to signal that we need them to do so.

All NATO allies should submit an ammo order to their suppliers to refill their stockpiles, and start negotiating deadlines for order fulfillment with the suppliers. That should be a clear signal that the ammo suppliers need to ramp up production of ammo. Can the ammo suppliers produce ammo at the same rate as Ukraine uses it? If they can, great, if not, then maybe we need to retool some factories ASAP.

If necessary, the USA can declare a state.of emergency, and use the Defense Production Act to force ammo suppliers to start ramping up production of ammo. We can also force factories to retool. Not for free, mind you, but paid for with defense funds.

Certainly European countries have similar ways of getting this accomplished.

The Pentagon and NATO should already have procedures in place to boost production of weapons and ammo whenever they are urgently needed. What if we were the ones attacked by Russia and fighting this war? What if we are attacked tomorrow? Certainly the Pentagon and NATO already have established a plan and policy to meet our defense production needs. That is a requirement for national preparedness and military readiness.

The Department of Defense should coordinate with the weapons and ammo producers. Invite them in for a meeting. Tell them what we need them to do. They will do whatever they can to satisfy the DoD's needs, NATO's needs, and Ukraine's needs to prevent losing a contract or sales. If we need more from the suppliers than they claim they are capable of, then it's time to inform the Biden administration or make an appeal to Congress that we need to use the Defense Production Act to keep up with all of the demands for weapons and ammo.

Keep track of all the weapons and ammo that are donated to Ukraine, and make sure they are being used in the battlefield on the enemy, and that none of them are being sold on the black market. Corruption, sadly, is still rampant. Keep tabs on everything we donate, but make sure that Ukraine has everything they need to defend themselves and defeat Russia.

It is possible to maintain our military readiness and help Ukraine win this war. We can do both of these things if everyone works together.