Washington, March 25
Senior Pentagon officials told lawmakers that the US military is accelerating efforts to build large stockpiles of low-cost weapons, even as it maintains reliance on high-end munitions for future conflicts.
Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lt. Gen. Steve Whitney, Director of Force Structure, Resources and Assessment (J8) at the Joint Staff, said the push is aimed at creating a balanced arsenal.
"Low-cost and developmental munitions can complement the traditional munitions in our arsenal, and we call this a high, low mix," Whitney said. "And to be perfectly clear, both are needed."
The hearing underscored growing concern in Congress that current spending remains heavily skewed toward expensive systems. Chairman Roger Wicker noted that a recent Pentagon plan allocated about 97 per cent of funds to high-cost munitions and just 3 per cent to lower-cost alternatives.
Whitney said that ratio is expected to evolve but cautioned against quick projections. "I think it's going to be a couple of years before we have a good understanding of what the true end balance is," he said.
Navy Rear Adm. Elizabeth S. Okano, principal military deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition), said the Navy is undergoing a "fundamental shift in how we arm the fleet."
"We need deeper magazines, and we need them now," Okano told lawmakers, outlining a three-phase approach to stabilise production, bring in new industry players, and scale output.
She pointed to increased funding for programmes like the Tomahawk and Standard Missile, and said new initiatives such as the Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (Mace) aim to deliver cheaper, scalable weapons. Industry, she said, has been challenged to produce such systems for "no more than 300,000 per round" and field them by 2027.
Major General Frank J. Lozano, Program Executive Officer for Missiles and Space at Redstone Arsenal, said the Army is opening the door to non-traditional companies to speed up innovation and reduce costs.
"Smaller new companies who have never done business with the Army before are proving new capabilities and providing the department with potential new options and affordability and scalability," Lozano said.
He cited a venture-backed firm developing the Blackbeard Ground Launch System, noting it had already conducted "at least 25 test events over the past year using their own capital."
An Air Force acquisition official said recent programmes have dramatically shortened timelines. In one case, the official said, the process from concept to contract took four months, while prototypes were flying "in 4 to 7 months," with production beginning "14 months from the first idea."
Lawmakers raised concerns over bottlenecks in supply chains, skilled labour shortages and limited access to testing ranges. One official acknowledged that "the congestion rate, the access to ranges may continue to be an issue going forward."
Officials also pointed to lessons from Ukraine, where rapid iteration has become critical. Whitney said the conflict highlighted "the rapid pace of innovation," while another official noted systems there can be modified "sometimes within a couple of days."
The Pentagon's shift toward lower-cost, high-volume weapons reflects lessons from recent conflicts where munitions are consumed at a far faster rate than anticipated.
- IANS
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