...and I chuckled when the Brits and Frogs were running out of Tomahawk missiles....

    ...,back when the Obamessiah was leading from behind in 2011 and the allies were attacking Libya.


    But now? No chuckles, instead a Ruh Roh!


    Why is the U.S. Navy Running Out of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles? | The National Interest


    "Last year’s entire Tomahawk purchase of 55 missiles accounted for 68 percent of the precision munitions fired at the Houthis in one day. This is an unsustainable rate of expenditure. However, this represents adherence to, rather than deviation from, the norm.


    Prior strikes in Syria expended fifty-nine Tomahawks in 2017 and an additional sixty-six in 2018. The Navy bought just 100 Tomahawks in 2018 and then zero Tomahawks in 2019—failing to offset the expenditure rate of the Syria strikes."

    If we have learned anything from the Ukraine bug tussle it's that ammunition gets expended in orders of magnitude faster than our brilliant Joint Chiefs and Congresswhores have figured.


    It's our sons and daughters that pay the price. In blood.

    The Podunk minor military operations against those puddly ass Arab militaries cannot be compared to an all out peer-peer conflict.


    Shit, Russia v Ukraine is a relatively small regional conflict and both sides are scrambling to find ammunition of just about all types.


    Plus you know our Allie’s ain’t got much In the way of cruise missiles either.


    Seems a no-brainer to at least keep production above a rolling average of annual use.

    I don't think Iraq was a minor action. That was a complete war and we kicked the shit out of them.


    Typically the tomahawks are used to blind the enemy to open up for air attacks. We've got a lot of weapons at our disposal, but always could use more ammunition.


    We've got some new stuff coming online . The F-35, B-21s, Drones, a new missile, and a new fighter. We can fuck anybody up pretty badly.


    We could have wiped out Ukraine just as easily as Iraq. Probably in just a couple of weeks. I doubt Russia would be a huge problem unless we were trying to actually occupy Russia. I think we could incapacitate Russia or China in any conventional war.


    I don't think we'd be getting in a war of artillery battles any time soon. But we need to stock up on everything.

    We kicked the shit out of Saddam's military forces because they were really shitty and easy to kick the shit out of. Ukraine at the start had a really weak military which highlighted how out of touch Russia's high command was.


    Yeah, we'd have rolled a place like Ukraine pretty much the way we rolled Iraq. Russia didn't really plan for success; thought they'd show up at a flagpole and run their flag up and it would be over.


    If we get into it with the Chinks in the Pacific, missiles will be the new artillery shells. Stockpiles will go pretty fast on both sides as it pretty much has to open as a naval affair. The other thing to consider is the logistics supply line. The fight will be in their backyard, near their factories and warehouses. Our factories and warehouses will be half a world away.


    So yeah, we agree. We DO need to stock up on everything and time is of the essence. We need supplies where they are secure and where we can get to them quickly.


    So....instead...we're not doing any of that and pissing money away by the trillions.

    Rode Hard, Put Away Wet

    Edited once, last by Toad ().

    If we get into it with China in the pacific, I'm not sure how much Tomahawks would come into play. I think more Navy and airpower. Subs, ship killing missiles and air power.


    I could be wrong, but I doubt we'd be hitting mainland China. Probably we would destroy the infrastructure on those little islands China created.


    We should be stocking up Taiwan to the brim with Patriot batteries. They're gonna get missiles rained on them.


    I do believe China would not be able to invade Taiwan anytime soon though.


    We've been gearing up new systems for at least a few years. I think this period of time is a time to arm up, for sure. Not fuck around.

    Tomahawk has a 1500 mile range. Plenty for hitting Chink embarcation facilities for a Taiwan invasion. Plenty for their shipyards which build nearly 50% of commercial shipping and can be transitioned to military yards.


    The list goes on.


    Tokyo to Bejing is ~1300 miles. You could be 200 miles east of Tokyo and hit Bejing. A lot of Chinese targets easily in range of a Tomahawk.


    We've drawn down some of our stockpiles. Others stuff is really old and should be replaced. The Minuteman IIIs are 50+ years old. Wiring & switches that old...sometimes don't work at all.

    Iraq was a small operation compared to peer-peer with China. There's going to be way more Chink targets.


    It's not all ships and planes as targets. Perhaps even more important are the command & control nodes, radar arrays, etc., etc. The same shit we took down before going into Iraq but on a far larger scale.


    Then there's logistics again. How many of those Tomahawks are deployed in a place where they could be rapidly used against China? The way we are the world's cop, we more than enough everywhere we might need them.

    Quote from Gina

    I could be wrong, but I doubt we'd be hitting mainland China.

    I bet we would, we'd hit critical infrastructure including factories that produce weapons and ammunition. Dockyards that produce ships, etc etc etc.


    I'd be rooting for strikes on the 3 GorgesDam. I saw a simulation that predicted 400 million dead Chinese in less than 10(?) hours due to the massive flash flood that would be caused by destroying the dam. The simulation didn't show critical infrastructure that would be destroyed in the process also but it would likely severely curtail the ability of the Chinese to produce weapons and ammunition.

    Not in a war over Taiwan. They will try to limit that to just the "battle" and not go into a full on war with China. We will stop the invasion and that's pretty much it.


    China will try to take it with as little notice as possible, so it's not like we are going to have time to bombard China. We'll be dealing with the actual invasion forces.


    I

    Quote from Gina

    Not in a war over Taiwan. They will try to limit that to just the "battle" and not go into a full on war with China. We will stop the invasion and that's pretty much it.


    China will try to take it with as little notice as possible, so it's not like we are going to have time to bombard China. We'll be dealing with the actual invasion forces.


    I

    I'd rather they get their asses beat as opposed to giving them a bloody nose. Beat their asses hard enough and the Chinese problem will be solved for a long time.


    Spy satellites are likely watching for a buildup of Chinese forces for an invasion and I think it will be difficult, if not impossible to conceal all of the activities required to prepare an invasion.