Airmen from the 51st Munitions Squadron unload guided bomb units (GBU's) during Operational Readiness Exercise Beverly Bulldog 11-01 at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Jan. 25, 2011. The exercise allows Airmen to practice their daily job at a wartime pace. (Air Force photo by Senior Airman Evelyn Chavez)
By: FEDweek StaffThe Air Force needs to bolster its stockpiles of munitions now or face the possibility of running perilously low when needed most, experts at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies have said.
“We lack a deep bench of stores … when it comes to key weapons,” said retired Maj. Gen. Larry Stutzriem, director of the Mitchell Institute, who moderated a discussion during the Air Force Association Warfare Symposium in Orlando earlier this month. “This all adds up to the conclusion that it’s time to have a concerted focus on munitions.”
Joining Stutzriem were John Corley of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, and retired Col. Mark Gunzinger. Deptula and Gunzinger also are with the Mitchell Institute.
“The Air Force needs to … move out smartly to develop a new generation of mid-range, standing PGMs [precision-guided missiles] that cost less than long-range weapons,” Deptula
Corley said that the Air Force now has neither the number nor capacity of such weapons on hand to meet a large threat.
“We need to start stockpiling more munitions with the capabilities that we desire,” Corley said.
Gunzinger noted that the Russian invasion of Ukraine definitively demonstrates that U.S. and allied forces would need to move to the offensive as quickly as possible – and that air power would be a key component of such a mobilization. He also warned that simply having the best air force with the finest aircraft in the world is not enough.
“If they don’t have weapons, that does not translate into combat power,” Gunzinger said.
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