The United States is less prepared for a major military conflict after depleting its munitions stockpile during the ongoing conflict with Iran, Sen. Mark Kelly said Sunday.
The Arizona Democrat is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has received detailed briefings from the Pentagon on the number of Tomahawks, ATACMS, SM-3 and THAAD and Patriot rounds used in the war against Iran.
“I think it’s fair to say it’s shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines, because this president got our country into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“We’ve expended a lot of munitions, and that means the American people are less safe,” the senator added. “Whether it’s a conflict in the western Pacific with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted.”
Mr. Kelly said he questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a hearing early this month about how long it will take to replenish the munitions and the answer was years.
The senator said the U.S. remains “well positioned” to respond if needed to defend itself or its allies if the resulting conflict lasts days or weeks but that long-term readiness is compromised.
“If a conflict goes on for months or years, when it takes years to replenish some of these munitions, of course, we’re going to be in a worse posture than we otherwise would be in if this war in Iran didn’t happen,” he said.
Mr. Kelly said the need to replenish munitions does not justify the Trump administration’s “outrageous” $1.5 trillion defense budget request for the coming fiscal year, which he argued would spend money on things the U.S. does not need.
“When I got to the Senate five-and-a-half years ago, the defense budget was just over $700 billion,” he said. “Now they’re asking for twice as much money. It’s nearly the amount that the rest of the world pays for its defense.”
