US facing strategic inventory munitions shortfalls due to attacks on Iran, Pentagon says

THE US fired so many munitions at Iranian targets during the first few months of Operation Epic Fury that it “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply”, Pentagon officials acknowledged to the Defense Department’s independent watchdog.

Acquisition officials said they are “working to streamline procurement processes and production lead times, and to stockpile critical materials, components, and selected munitions to respond rapidly to a contingency”, the Pentagon inspector general (IG) said in a report released late on Monday (Sep 14).

The IG report which covers the US military’s operations in the conflict with Iran through Jun 30, marks an official confirmation of a problem the Trump administration has repeatedly downplayed. 

“The US has massive amounts of ‘munitions’, especially of certain types,” Trump posted on social media Aug 6.

In another post Sep 9, Trump said the US has “virtually unlimited amounts” of mid- to high-grade ammunition – “far more than we could ever use for this, or for any other War”.

The Defense Department estimated it had spent US$22.3 billion worth of expended munitions in the war as of about the end of June, according to the report, while the overall cost through that period totalled more than US$33 billion. 

The report is the Pentagon IG’s first quarterly assessment of Operation Epic Fury, and reads as a high-level budgetary guide to the cost of the war, with US dollar amounts attached.

Congress requires these quarterly reports on US military operations where appropriated dollars are spent. The report includes contributions from the watchdogs overseeing the State Department and US Agency for International Development.

Iran’s military has damaged or destroyed “hundreds” of buildings and structures at US bases in the region, while US diplomatic facilities in four countries sustained physical damage from Iranian strikes, US Central Command told the IG.

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The report listed 11 US service members killed in action as of the end of July, with another seven killed in non-hostile events during Epic Fury combat operations.

More than 400 service members were wounded in action through the end of June. The Pentagon did not release an immediate comment on the report. BLOOMBERG