(Official Washington Examiner editorial, Dec. 7)
The primary responsibility of a national government is to provide for the common defense, but U.S. lawmakers are failing. Facing growing threats from China and other hostile nations, Congress and President-elect Donald Trump must spend whatever it takes to bolster weapons supplies and recruitment of personnel to wield those weapons.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday that the United States might not have enough munitions if a “full-scale war” broke out with China. Sullivan said the nation should be “stockpiling both the vital munitions we know we’ll need in sufficient quantities and the components needed to produce them on short notice.” China’s “single biggest advantage” was its “sheer scope and scale of production.” Adm. Samuel Paparo last month warned that military aid to Israel and Ukraine is “eating into our stocks” significantly.
Other reports this week show that China is rapidly increasing its usable numbers of J-20 stealth fighters even as U.S. contracting for F-35 stealth fighters is suffering unanticipated delays and as Defense Department officials say still more testing is needed to determine if automatic cannons on F-35s can actually shoot straight. The War Zone reports “historically low readiness rates” for all variants of the F-35 that could undermine combat operations.
Aerial view of the Pentagon, home of the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
Exact Date Shot Unknown.
Meanwhile, recruitment for the armed services lagged for a full decade, with Army enlistments down from 58,000 in 2013 to 37,000 in 2023, and all services combined reporting a shortfall of 41,000 recruits in 2023. The services, except for the Navy, barely met their targets in 2024, but, in some cases, only by lowering standards. With a decrease in the number of children entering adulthood because of the “birth dearth,” recruitment challenges could grow, especially as young people look increasingly unfavorably on the military.
Those aren’t the only challenges to the Pentagon’s ability to fight wars, even though, on paper, the U.S. continues to enjoy technological advantages….. [The full editorial is here.]
