No. of Recommendations: 3
Russia isn't the country we'd get into a shooting war with. Why would we? Over what?
They're a paper tiger who can't project power more that 30 miles over their borders. The US has had stealth aircraft for 40 years now while the Russians have maybe half a dozen Generation 4 and a half aircraft. Lockheed has built nearly 400 F-35s as of now and are cranking them out at a rate of 156 a year. Their Air Force, which can't establish air superiority over a country with little to no integrated air defense capability, would be eliminated in a hurry.
Putin's decimated the professional ranks of his army in terms of soldiers and top-of-the-line equipment. Their best stuff is already being picked apart by NATO analysts to see how it works (or doesn't). As for armor, the Ukrainians have blown up or captured so many Russkie tanks that at one point they had more during the war than before it started.
Russia is not something to worry about no matter how many times they try to fly around the Alaska ADIZ. If they do anything, it will an asymmetric attack.
So who would we need ammo for? China. There are any number of potential flashpoints in the Pacific.
But...
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/budget/2022/0...WASHINGTON — The United States has relied almost entirely on China — and to a lesser extent Russia — in recent years to procure a critical mineral that is vital to producing ammunition.
The mineral antimony is critical to the defense-industrial supply chain and is needed to produce everything from armor-piercing bullets and explosives to nuclear weapons as well as sundry other military equipment, such as night vision goggles.Heavy metals and rare earth mineral production is dominated by China. There needs to be more mining in the US, and ASAP.
