U.S. cannot count all excess arms

October 13, 2023

The United States Army does not know where some of its excess arms and equipment are.

Amid increased demand from U.S. allies, Army leaders are pushing for an updated database of the stored weapons.

“The U.S. Army has warehouses packed with weapons its soldiers no longer need. But the service doesn’t know where they all are, nor what condition they’re in,” the U.S. defense publication Defense One wrote.

The army leadership insists on updating the database of these weapons stored in depots.

“Sometimes we don’t really know where all of our excess equipment is. We have a lot of it, and it’s accumulated over time,” Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo said.

Gabe Camarillo (right). Photo credits: army.mil

Not all of it is needed, and the service is working to rid itself of superfluous weapons and other equipment.

The U.S. military was already working hard to send excess defense articles to the allies that needed them.

The Pentagon has been fast-tracking weapons to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, although the future of such aid is in limbo.

Then on Saturday, Israel was attacked by Hamas, and the United States, a major supplier of weapons to Israel, has vowed to accelerate that assistance. Meanwhile, there’s been a push for the U.S. to arm Taiwan to deter invasion by China.

Most equipment is provided “as is,” meaning it may not be in working order.

U.S. military. Photo credits: U.S. Department of Defense

To strengthen its allies, the U.S. Army needs better digital information about what it has in these excess stocks.

“I’m working really hard with Army Materiel Command to find ways to more rapidly and in the digital fashion to catalog what we currently have, not relying on the clipboard and supply soldier who’s sitting there taking notes and putting it on a piece of paper,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said.

U.S. cannot count all excess arms