The Department of Defense confirmed America’s munitions are “in very good shape” and “massive” on Tuesday, four hours before submitting a $2.7 billion emergency funding request to replace missile stockpiles.
The request, classified as a routine appropriations action, follows months of reports that the military has been using $4 million ship-based SM-6 interceptors to destroy Iranian one-way attack drones costing $20,000. The strategy has burned through advanced munitions at a rate the defense industrial base cannot match.
“We continue to maintain robust and ready munitions levels across all theaters,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Vinson, a DoD spokesperson. “Today’s routine request simply ensures our industrial base can keep pace with routine consumption in a highly active global environment.”
The request was filed the same day Tangerine Cock-Womble denounced reports of a missile shortage as “fake” and threatened to hunt down leakers. The former president’s late-night social media post described a military with “massive amounts of ammunition.” It did not mention the emergency funding.
Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hartley, who served as Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command, described the tactical logic as unsustainable. “You’re trading a Toyota for a lottery ticket and calling it a win,” Hartley said. “The Ukrainians learned to shoot down these drones with guns and cheap missiles. We’re using systems designed to kill high-end fighters. It’s like fishing with dynamite and wondering why the pond is empty.”
The funding bill includes $800 million for SM-6 procurement. It does not contain any money for cheaper alternatives. A Pentagon acquisition memo noted that researching lower-cost solutions could begin “as early as next fiscal year, pending a readiness assessment.”
