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Adm. Sam Paparo is concerned that the US is providing the necessary protections it needs to deal with China.
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“It’s now eating in the woods,” he said on Tuesday about the shipment of advanced weapons to Ukraine and Israel.
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Paparo urged the Pentagon to begin restocking and expanding beyond the initial inventory.
The head of the US Navy in the Indo-Pacific suggested on Tuesday that the Pentagon has shipped advanced weapons to Ukraine and Israel that could end the force it wants to deal with China.
Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Adm. Samuel Paparo said that at first they were not concerned about the weapons sent to the Middle East and Europe.
“Until this year, where most of the weapons used were small arms and short-term weapons, I had said: ‘No,'” said Paparo, who has been the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command since May.
“But now, some of the Patriots have been deployed, some air-to-air missiles have been deployed, and they are eating into the trees,” he added. “And to say otherwise would be dishonest.”
In the past year, the US has been launching sophisticated systems in Israel and Ukraine from its own. For example, it sends Kyiv at least two Patriot systems and an unknown number of weapons while delivering the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system – one of six in its arsenal – to Israel.
Israel has its own Patriot systems bought from the US and has said it is removing them for a new type of air defense system.
Paparo said advanced weapons are not reserved for one theater of the US command but that placing them in the Middle East and Europe affects the Pentagon’s global “high-end capabilities.”
“First, it invests in America’s readiness to respond in the Indo-Pacific region, which is the most critical theater for the number and quality of military weapons, because the PRC is the most capable adversary in the world,” Paparo said. , meaning the People’s Republic of China.
His answer is to spend more in building the US inventory.
“We need to fill those stocks, and then some,” Paparo said. “I was already dissatisfied with the depth of the magazine. I am especially dissatisfied with the depth of the magazine. You know, it’s time to speak directly.”
Paparo’s warning echoes concerns from a congressional investigation released in July that found the U.S. stockpile could be severely depleted in a war against Russia, China, or both at the same time.
In particular, the commissioners expressed concern that the US could use its forces in three to four weeks, citing military exercises held to simulate potential wars in the Indo-Pacific.
Other critical weapons such as anti-ship missiles could run out in days, the study also said.
Like Paparo, this study wanted to expand and revitalize US weapons production to produce a higher number of weapons.
Some in the Pentagon say there is not much time left to do so. Adm. John Aquilino, head of the Indopacific Command, said in March that China may be ready to invade Taiwan as early as 2027.
In January last year, US Air Force Gen. Mike Miniham told the police in a memo that he personally felt that Beijing could go to war in 2025. The four-star general resigned in September.
The US has budgeted $850 billion this year for defense, and observers expect the cost to reach $1 trillion a year over the next decade.
The media teams for the Pentagon and Indo-Pacific Command did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
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