The US fired so many munitions at Iranian targets during the first few months of Operation Epic Fury that it "has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply," Pentagon officials acknowledged to the defence department's independent watchdog.
Acquisition officials said they are "working to streamline procurement processes and production lead times, and to stockpile critical materials, components, and selected munitions to respond rapidly to a contingency," the Pentagon inspector general said in a report released late Monday.
The IG report which covers the US military's operations in the conflict with Iran through June 30, marks an official confirmation of a problem the Trump administration has repeatedly downplayed.
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"The US has massive amounts of 'munitions,' especially of certain types," Trump posted on social media on August 6. In another post September 9, Trump said the US has "virtually unlimited amounts" of mid- to high-grade ammunition-"far more than we could ever use for this, or for any other War." The defence department estimated it had spent $22.3 billion worth of expended munitions in the war as of about the end of June, according to the report, while the overall cost through that period totaled more than $33 billion.
The report is the Pentagon IG's first quarterly assessment of Operation Epic Fury, and reads as a high-level budgetary guide to the cost of the war, with dollar amounts attached.
Military aid to Europe, West Asia cut
The Trump administration is stripping tens of millions of dollars in US military assistance to countries in Europe and the West Asia to support conservative-leaning governments in Central and South America. The State Department on Tuesday notified Congress that it will reprogram $52 million in foreign military financing from Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
