December 17, 2023
By OFP
Are we running out of military equipment? Let’s put things into a proper perspective. Below is a small overview of various weapon systems for ground combat that we have/had in our inventories (United States), both on active duty status and in long-term storage (where applicable) and the total number of pieces of each category that were handed to Ukraine.
Abrams Tanks
The U.S. Army is believed to have 2,509 Abrams in various versions in its arsenal that are on active duty, with an additional 3,700 in storage. Of the 6,200 Abrams in our entire inventory, we sent to Ukraine … 31. That’s 0.5% of the total M-1s that we have.
HIMARS
The U.S. army has 363 HIMARS and the Marine Corps another 47. That makes a total of 410. I don’t know if we have any in storage, so let’s leave it at 410. According to various sources, Ukraine received 18. That’s 4.4% of what we had, assuming we have zero in storage.
Bradley IFV
As of July of this year, Ukraine received 190 M-2 Bradleys. Until 2022, the US Army has around 6 230 M2 Bradley IFVs of all variants. Another source claims 4,000 Bradleys in all versions (including the reconnaissance M3 Bradley) are in service with the US army, and about 2,800 are in storage. We’ll be on the safe side and use 6000 for our calculation. The Marine Corps does not use Bradleys as far as I’m aware. So, this means that Ukraine has received 3.16% of our M-2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
M-777 Howitzer
Statista says that Ukraine received 138 M-777s and Wiki says that as of October 2022, the country had at least 170 M-777s, but only 142 are from the U.S., so we’ll use this number. Both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps have around 1000 M-777s in their inventories. I’m not aware of any in storage, so 1000 is what we’ll use. Thus, Ukraine got 14.2% of our stock of these howitzers.
M113 Armored Personnel Carrier
This APC has its origins in the 1960s, and more than 80,000 have been built since then. Statista says that Ukraine received 300 from the U.S., but Ukraine has many more from other partners. For now, we’re only talking about the ones from the U.S. The army currently has around 13,000 M-113s, so Ukraine got 2.3% of our available stock.
Patriots
The US Army operates a total of 1,106 Patriot launchers. In 2023, 480 were in service, according to Wiki. Currently, the army has 15 Patriot battalions, and each battalion consists of 4 or 5 Patriot missile batteries. Let’s assume 4 for each battery. This makes 60 batteries in all, with 1 having been handed over to Ukraine. This means that Ukraine has 1.66% of our Patriot missile batteries.
Conclusion
Ukraine has more of certain weapons that are listed above, but they are from other partners and thus haven’t been used in my calculations. Take note, please, that any of the mentioned figures used might not be exact. We could say that some could be exact, but most might just be guesstimates. If they differ, then the government hasn’t disclosed the true figures or my sources have used other sources that were faulty. I did my best to get the best possible numbers for each category. Also, some of the info is not the freshest.
All in all, I think we can take those percentages to be pretty close to reality. None would sound my alarm bell even if they were a bit higher. The only one that is getting close to the “danger zone” would be for the M-777. But, with the world’s most powerful air force and the most powerful navy air fleet, is that something for the United States to worry about?
As for the equipment in storage; we have masses of them. They range in size of B-52s and large transport planes, to pistols and everything in between. How much in total for each category? No one really knows. A recent news report confirmed that not even our own military knows exactly what we have.
I don’t think that we’re running out of anything. Ammunition, maybe, but certain combat vehicles, aviation, trucks, Humvees, and so forth? No.
To give the reader a small visual glimpse of some of the equipment that we have in storage, I’ve put together a few images below. The overview below is by no means complete.
American army depot in Germersheim (Photo by Régis BOSSU/Sygma via Getty Images)
A formation of newly arrived Joint Light Tactical Vehicles lines up at Coleman worksite, assigned to the 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s Army Prepositioned Stock-2 site. (Picture source: U.S. Army/Cameron Porter)
The image above is of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. During the last 25 years, at least 20% of the aircraft parked here were refurbished for use again. Many of such planes were sold to other countries. The planes which are beyond repair are normally cannibalized to recover spare parts to be used in other planes of similar class. The planes that are stripped bare are then mainly sold as scrap.
Above, the Tooele Army Depot (TEAD). It spans a whopping 23,610 acres in norther Utah about 40 miles from Salt Lake City. The base contains 1,093 buildings and 902 igloos, with over 2,483,000 square feet of storage space for military equipment. This allows the depot to efficiently carry out their responsibilities, which include storing, shipping, receiving, inspecting, demilitarization, and maintenance. Tooele is not known solely for its military support capabilities.
Sources:
https://www.rferl.org/a/abrams-tanks-ukraine-/32238725.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/20/bradley-ukraine-war-vehicles/
https://www.milbases.com/utah/tooele-army-depot
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1314456/ukraine-military-aid-artillery/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anniston_Army_Depot
https://www.csis.org/analysis/united-states-running-out-weapons-send-ukraine
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product1196.html
An Aircraft Boneyard
Why use Germany for storage? The climate is unsuitable.
Why not store everything in the desert?
^bert
This stuff is for use in Europe. It would be a mammoth task to send in material quickly, especially while Europe is under attack. I used these images because, what are they there for? That’s right, to do what Ukraine is now doing; destroy ruskies and their equipment. Thus, theoretically, they are not needed by the US Army anymore.
Excellent work, Mr. Ofp! This should calm the concerns of some US voters that the US are giving away too many valuable military vehicles. And let’s not forget that the Pentagon still puts a quite high price tag on all this surplus that it hands over to Ukraine!
Greetings, Gray
Good to see you again Sir Gray. I’ve been wondering how you have been.😎👍
Oh, thanks, Bill, that’s kind of you. But I’m checking the site every day (even before Kyivpost and Ukrainska Pravda) and every seclnd one I leave a comment or two. I just post anonymously because I forgot my WordPress password. 🙂
Maybe RedSquareMaidan or Foccusser can be of help with this.
Thanks for the tip, Mr. Ofp, but I can get it done myself. I just had been too lazy. :blush:
Been there, done that. 🙂
Good to “see” you again, Sir Gray. 😉
😁
Ukraine has two Patriot systems. Two! Plus one (maybe; I’m not sure) supplied by Germany.
How many of these life-savers has the US supplied to the Saudis to defend themselves from Iran?
Shitloads.
It’s a disgrace.
In Ukraine, one Patriot battery is from the US and the other two are from Germany. The Netherlands has donated two launchers to Ukraine.
Right, Mr. Ofp, but Scradgel has a point. It’s really a shame that the US couldn’t at least provide a second system. A Patriot battery for xmas, now that would be a great gift! The gift of life, so to say.
Of course, I fully agree with scradge. We could easily hand over more than another battery. We could also hand over a whole lot more of other stuff, too.
I think its time the US should relocate the Patriot’s assigned to Turkey and put them to use in Ukraine.
Or at least deploy one of these at the sourh-eastern coast of Romania, so that it covers Ismailij, which is often under attack by RuSSian drones. I don’t understand why Nato hasn’t done that weeks ago, when the first drone crashed on the wrong site of the border. Still afraid of provoking Putin in any way, I guess. 🙁
A non-provoking stance by NATO has become its shameful trademark.
According to a December 16, 2022, article, a newly produced PATRIOT battery costs about $1.1 billion.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12297
For the US to send more, first the House has to agree to fund support for Ukraine, then the cost of a PATRIOT system needs to be balanced against the cost of other things that Ukraine needs.
“How many of these life-savers has the US supplied to the Saudis”
One difference is that the Saudis are buying them. So, there’s no need for the House to approve funding. (Congress could attempt to *block* the sales, but under trumpkov, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was able to invoke an emergency waiver to circumvent congressional review of billions of dollars in arms sales to the middle east.)
I wonder what happened to the Lend Lease program for Ukraine.
It expired on September 30.
There was an amendment to extend Lend-Lease for Ukraine until 2024, but it doesn’t look like it made it in to the final bill.
I know it expired, but there is no explanation as to why it was allowed to expire. If some lawmakers are too cheap to invest in our future without mafia land as our biggest enemy, then they should at least allow a lend lease program for Ukraine. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
I think it’s an annual thing, so the proper question isn’t why it was allowed to expire, but rather why it wasn’t renewed for 2024. I saw the following in the House report on the NDAA, but I couldn’t find anything about it on the Senate side. (I gave up looking after spending too much time on it.) (Everything below is quoted from the given link.)
Extension of lend-lease authority to Ukraine
The House bill contained a provision (sec. 1224) that would extend the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–118) through fiscal year 2024 and include a requirement for the Secretary of Defense to provide a report to the congressional defense committees, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate with a description of the defense articles lent or leased not later than 60 days following the exercise of the authority.
The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.
The House recedes.
Click to access FY24%20NDAA%20Conference%20Report%20-%20%20FINAL.pdf
Thanks a lot for the info, Larry. Maybe we’ll see a revival of the lend lease sometime in the near future, if Ukraine doesn’t get donated materiel. We’ll just have to wait and see, just like the Ukrainian people.
Fair enough, but the US wouldn’t deliver a new battery, but a used one. That should be a bit cheaper. And strategically, it would be a smart gift. Because Ukraine is doing important work for the US by reducing the military strength of China’s most important ally, every single day. An Abrams tank may cost 10 million bucks and a Patriot battery even a cool billion, but to reduce the threat of World War III is priceless!
That is absolutely true. It’s just a big shame that certain politicians in Washington can’t see it that way, either through stupidity or bribes.