Challenges of the US Terrorist Army in Rebuilding Ammunition Stockpiles
TEHRAN (Defapress) - Mohammad Zarchini - The US terrorist army launched a major and devastating war in the region about 90 days ago, dropping thousands of tons of bombs on targets in Iran. Field sources report that these attacks have severely depleted the US military’s equipment capabilities, and this has become a challenge for the country’s military.
According to assessments published by strategic study centers, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), restoring the US terrorist army’s vital ammunition stocks to the levels they had before the recent operational commitments is a process that will realistically take several years. This delay is not due to a specific event, but is rooted in structural constraints in the supply chain, the production capacity of the defense industry, and budget planning challenges that have been the focus of US military experts and regulatory agencies for years.
Current State of Stockpiles and Operational Pressures
For the past decade, the United States has focused on maintaining a qualitative edge by building on its post-Cold War stockpiles and prioritizing advanced platform systems (aircraft, ships, armored vehicles) for combat. However, continuing operational commitments on multiple geographic fronts, coupled with increasing rates of consumption of guided munitions, artillery shells, and air defense systems, have placed unprecedented pressure on stockpiles. Internal Pentagon reports, and independent assessments by agencies such as the Government Accounting Office (GAO) indicate that the rate of munitions withdrawals from stockpiles has outpaced the rate of production and replacement in recent years. This gap has become a strategic concern, particularly for munitions categories that are widely used in high-intensity conflicts.
Supply Chain and Raw Materials Bottlenecks
A central focus of reports by CSIS and other defense think tanks is the vulnerability of the supply chain for raw materials and semi-finished products; the production of modern munitions depends on a complex mix of high-energy chemicals (such as NTO and RDX), precision electronics, rocket motors, and alloy metals. Many of these materials are either produced by a limited number of domestic suppliers or are heavily dependent on imports. For example, the production capacity of basic explosives in the United States has declined significantly compared to the Cold War era, and restoring it to operational levels requires infrastructure investment, environmental permits, and training of skilled personnel, all of which take time. In addition, fluctuating raw material prices and global competition for military electronics supplies have made long-term production planning uncertain.
Defense Industry Capacity and Production Constraints
The U.S. defense industry, while technologically advanced, faces structural challenges in terms of mass production. Many munitions production lines, especially for guided systems and long-range missiles, are designed to be “make-to-order” or low-rate to avoid the cost of maintaining stagnant lines. A sudden surge in demand requires activating stockpiles, recruiting trained labor, and procuring specialized machinery, a process that can take years. Reports from the Rand Research Center also emphasize that even with additional funding, physical and human bottlenecks will not allow factory output to reach the levels needed to fully replace stocks in the short term. In other words, “money” alone is no substitute for “time and infrastructure.”
Congressional Approach and Budgetary Challenges
The response of U.S. lawmakers to this industrial reality has been a combination of bipartisan concerns and differences in fiscal priorities. Senate and House Armed Services Committee hearings have repeatedly emphasized the need to move from “reactive budgeting” to “multi-year production planning.” Some lawmakers from both parties have proposed long-term contracts with manufacturers, tax incentives for expanding production lines, and investments in test and maintenance infrastructure as structural solutions. However, debt ceiling constraints, competition for funding for platform modernization programs, and challenges to overseeing defense spending have slowed the pace of passage and implementation of these reforms; regulators have also warned that without reforming contracting frameworks and reducing procurement bureaucracy, increased funding alone will not lead to increased production.
Strategic Implications and Future Prospects
The reality of multi-year ammunition stockpiling has significant strategic implications for US military doctrine and defense diplomacy in the current critical situation. First, it affects the calculations of “ammunition access” in scenarios of simultaneous conflict in several regions and highlights the need to reconsider priorities for the deployment and geographical distribution of stocks. Second, there is an increasing emphasis on “agile production,” “component standardization,” and “collaboration with industrial allies” in Pentagon strategic documents. Third, the gap between operational expectations and production reality has intensified internal debates about the balance between “immediate readiness” and “long-term sustainability.” Experts emphasize that only by combining infrastructure investment, reforming procurement regulations, and strategic coordination with defense partners can this cycle of vulnerability be gradually reduced.
A review of credible reports and public documents shows that rebuilding the US ammunition stockpile is a multi-layered techno-industrial issue rooted in supply chain constraints, production capacity, and budget-planning frameworks. US strategic and oversight institutions unanimously emphasize that replacing depleted stocks is not a short-term process and requires structural determination, sustained investment, and acceptance of the realities of the defense industry. In this context, analytical transparency, avoiding undocumented scenario-building, and focusing on technical data and expert reports are inevitable necessities for a precise understanding of security and defense developments in the years ahead.
In recent weeks, Pete Hegseth has been repeatedly questioned and sharply criticized by the US Congress. Democratic representatives in the US House of Representatives believe that America's unnecessary war with Iran has depleted the country's reserves, and it appears that this war has been a heavy and substantial blow to the US terrorist army's ammunition reserves, which will take years to recover.
