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Floor Speech
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Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, over the years, many historians have studied how exactly the United States was able to rapidly mobilize during World War II. It was truly a remarkable thing.
One book, ``Freedom's Forge'' by Arthur Herman, summarizes the feat well. American manufacturers produced ``two-thirds of all Allied military equipment used in World War II. That included 86,000 tanks, 2.5 million trucks and a half a million jeeps, 286,000 warplanes, 8,800 naval vessels, 5,600 naval merchant ships, 434 million tons of steel, 2.6 million machine guns, and 41 billion rounds of ammunition--not to mention the greatest super bomber of the war, the B-29, and the atomic bomb.''
In the blink of an eye, entire manufacturing industries retooled their factories, and they began pumping out everything from fighter planes to ships to critical munitions. There is no doubt that our immense production capacity was a critical factor behind why the Allies won the war.
The threat environment that we face today is much different. There are a wide range of scenarios that our Nation has to be prepared for. And, of course, the way our economy is structured is also much different.
This raises an important question: Are we prepared to respond to the changing threat environment of the 21st century?
Repeating that incredible moment in American history would not be easy. What we can and what we should do is identify which investments we can make to effectively meet these threats and deter any adversary.
For years, we have underinvested in our munitions production capacity. We can start to reverse that by expanding already hot production lines, which would have an immediate positive effect on readiness.
If we don't make these investments now, it will be harder for us to surge munitions production in a time of emergency or global instability, and that is a concern we must take seriously.
During a crisis, surge capacity is one lever the Department of Defense must be able to pull to ensure that decisionmakers have a range of options at their disposal. In fact, the ability to surge production of munitions is going to be vital to respond to most types of modern conflicts.
How do we know this? Let's just look at Ukraine and Russia and how quickly they are running through munitions.
According to the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, Ukraine needs approximately 500 Javelin missiles every single day. Well, Lockheed Martin only produces around 2,100 missiles a year. When the report was published in June, RUSI also estimated that Russia had used between 1,100 and 2,100 missiles during their invasion of Ukraine. That means ``in three months of combat, Russia has burned through four times the US annual missile production'' for those cruise missiles. These examples are important benchmarks.
You can do the math, and you can pretty quickly come up with future scenarios where demand starts to strain supply.
Another important factor is the People's Republic of China, which both the Biden administration and the Trump administration identified as America's pacing threat. China has spent the last two decades dramatically building up its military. According to the DOD's 2019 Missile Defense Review, ``a key component of China's military modernization is its conventional ballistic missile arsenal designed to prevent [the] U.S. military access to support regional allies and partners.''
Since then, China's arsenal has only continued to rapidly grow-- again, another important reference point that our Nation will have to navigate.
This should not be interpreted as fearmongering. I want to be clear that I have every confidence in our military's ability to defend this Nation and to defend our allies.
Army Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions, Logistics, and Technology Doug Bush recently told reporters, for example, that he was ``not uncomfortable'' with our stockpile levels. However, as Assistant Secretary Bush noted, the Army is ``doggedly working with industry . . . to boost the production of certain weapon systems to keep Kyiv armed and the US well stocked.''
In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that ``in the [United States], it takes 13 to 18 months from the time orders are placed for munitions to be manufactured, [and that is] according to an industry official. Replenishing stockpiles of more sophisticated weaponry such as missiles and drones can take much longer.''
The United States, our allies, and our partners need those munitions. The challenge is that years of underinvestment has reduced our production capacities and speed at which we can respond to that increased demand.
Clearly, there are significant benefits to expanding that capacity. Again, we have to be able to meet the changing threat environment and the rise of our near-peer competitors, like China. Congress, I believe, needs to take a few actions to address this challenge.
First, invest more in our munitions production capacity. Second, pass a clean national defense authorization act without delay.
I secured an amendment in this year's Senate NDAA to require the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to produce an annual report on our industrial base and the potential constraints for our munitions production. This type of reporting should help to further identify gaps in our production capacity so that we can further refine future investments. Overall, these actions would be an important step in the right direction.
We know that our adversaries will continue--continue--to threaten our global security. We know, as shown by Russia's horrific invasion of Ukraine--that our allies and partners will continue--they will continue--to need munitions. And we know the United States needs to be prepared for any scenario that threatens our national security.
The best response to those stark and immediate realities is to expand our ability to produce the things that we need to defend ourselves. If we do that, the greater our capacity is to project strength, react to any scenario, and better support allies and partners.
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