No easy answer for ramping up Stinger production, Pentagon No. 2 says

LOS ANGELES: Obsolete parts and workforce issues are presenting a problem for the United States as it considers ramping up production of the shoulder mounted Stinger anti-aircraft system in order to surge weapons for Ukraine and replenish US stocks, the Pentagon’s No. 2 official said Tuesday.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, US and NATO-provided munitions such as the Raytheon-made Stinger have been integral for Ukrainian forces as they attempt to retain control of their airspace against the larger, better equipped Russian military.

However, lawmakers’ concerns about the US military’s own dwindling stockpile has raised questions about how best to replenish the munitions — questions that Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks said the Pentagon is still in the process of figuring out how to resolve, particularly with regard to Stinger.

“There are some very specific issues with regard to Stinger and some obsolescence issues that we have to overcome,” Hicks told traveling press, including Breaking Defense, on Tuesday. “That’s because we in the US, we’re focusing ourselves forward on new capability. So now we want to make sure we can produce, or see what it takes to produce, what we need for this crisis.”

Another issue, Hicks added, is that the US defense industry has been focused on building the more advanced munitions the US military has been procuring in recent years, whereas producing older weaponry like the 1970s era Stinger requires different skills.

“Transitioning that workforce over to the munitions that are appropriate for the Ukraine fight, that requires some shift of priority and training,” she said.

“We’ve had a lot of opportunity between the [Pentagon’s acquisition and sustainment] community… and the policy community to start thinking about how we work with other armaments directors in Europe and elsewhere to understand what they have, to start to understand the supply chain interrelationships, and see if we can speed some of that up.”

RELATED: Stinger, Javelin production can be increased with congressional support: Army official

In a House Armed Services Committee hearing earlier on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that the Pentagon is working with industry to figure out how to expedite the projected schedule for replenishing munitions stockpiles that have dwindled due to Ukraine.

“I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to truncate, you know, the forecasted timelines that we got early on,” he said. “We’re working this very hard. Industry has been responsive. And if we need additional help or authorities from Congress, we won’t hesitate to ask.”

The comments from Hicks and Austin came just hours before the Biden administration announced an additional $100 million for Javelin anti-tank weapons for Ukraine, which Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby characterized in a statement as an urgent need. So far, the United States has provided $1.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the invasion started on Feb. 24, and more than $2.4 billion since the Biden administration began in 2021.

Stinger Production Line: Can it Even Be Restarted? 

While Javelin — which is made by a Lockheed Martin-Raytheon joint venture — remains in production for the US military, the US Army and Marine Corps have not bought Stinger systems for decades. Today, the Stinger production line services only a single international customer, who has sourced and provided many of the obsolescent parts needed to build its own Stingers.

Because Stinger is made with number of components that are no longer in production, there is a finite number of Stingers that could be manufactured with the existing parts available on the market.

There are also concerns that — due to the workforce considerations referenced by Hicks — Ukraine could need Stingers more quickly than the US could replenish its own stockpile, leading to a deficit. In the months since the conflict started, the United States has provided Ukraine about 2,000 Stingers, but it currently takes 18 to 24 months to produce a single production lot of Stinger missiles, CNN reported on March 28.

A source told Breaking Defense that the production process involves very little automation, with artisans fabricating Stingers together by hand.

In March, HASC Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Ranking Member Mike Rogers, R-Ala., implored Pentagon leadership to begin working on a modern short range air defense system that could replace Stinger. They called the issue “a matter of the highest urgency” and stipulated that the new system be low-cost, exportable and ready in 36 months.

The fiscal 2022 budget, which was signed into law last month, earmarked $3.5 billion for the Pentagon to replenish munitions given to Ukraine. That money should be used to find new parts and production methods that could bridge the gap between Stinger and a modern system, a senior congressional aide told Breaking Defense last week.

“If we’re waiting for the FY23 [National Defense Authorization Act] to get this problem fixed, we’ve waited way too long and wasted months,” the aide said. “If we’re spending six months dithering then it’s too late, and we wasted half a year. We don’t have that wiggle room.”