The conflict in Iran has changed the delivery schedules of some American-made munitions destined for the British armed forces, with officials declining to name the specific weapons affected on security grounds, the Ministry of Defence has told Parliament.
The Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard, set out the position on Monday in a written answer to the Labour MP for North Durham, Luke Akehurst, who had asked whether any Ministry of Defence procurement had been adversely impacted by delays in the delivery of US-manufactured weapons as a result of the conflict in Iran.
Pollard told MPs that “the conflict in Iran has resulted in changes to delivery schedules of some munitions”, that “Ministry of Defence teams work continuously with US partners” to assess and adapt procurement programmes and ensure support to operations, but that his department could not comment further on specific munitions or stockpile questions “for security reasons”.
The conflict in Iran has stretched the production and delivery capacity of the United States’ munitions industry over the past year, with American stockpiles drawn down to support Israeli operations and US strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets, and a parallel set of demands from US Indo-Pacific Command and from US contributions to the war in Ukraine competing for the same lines of production. Several categories of weapon, including air-defence interceptors, precision-guided air-to-ground munitions and standoff missiles, have been the subject of public discussion in defence circles for their tight availability.
The British armed forces are dependent on a number of American weapons systems, including the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile fired from Royal Navy submarines, the AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles used by RAF Typhoons and F-35B Lightnings, and the AGM-114 Hellfire carried by Apache attack helicopters and other platforms, alongside a wider set of components and consumables that pass through US-led supply chains.
Any nations is always going to prioritise its own security needs with munition production. This is the downside of relying on US missiles but America and Israel have a far greater need than the UK does at present.
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Agreed but why didn’t we have clauses in the contract to avoid this and/or get a discount for delayed delivery. Ultimately these are private companies, not controlled by the US government or contracted with the US government. Also what else is hidden in the contracts that go against our national interests.
Out of interest what munitions are we actively receiving from the US? IIRC we don’t have any fresh AMRAAMs coming which is the most obvious high profile US weapon to many that we use.
APKWS kits? SBD if it has been ordered yet? GBU kits? GMLRS? Hellfires?
TLAM?
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The variant for the Astute-class is out of production, so I don’t think it’ll be TLAM.
Maybe Stormbreaker?
I guess it could be that its something we haven’t yet placed a firm order on but were negotiating an order. At which point it’s our own fault for not releasing the funds earlier to place the order.
Could also be laying an excuse ahead of the DIP. We haven’t delayed the order for cost/lack of fund reasons, it’s those nasty US delaying it, we would of course have spent the money if it wasn’t for that.
The great USA unrealiable as ever,
What a silly comment – it is inevitable that any nation will prioritize its own operational needs over other countries’. It’s not as if they’re withholding it as a bargaining tool – there’s genuinely a critical lack of supply.
Chilly, umm no a deal is a deal , The USA is an unreliable allie, its do as we want or there will be issues.
The restrict access to software ie the F35 so have have mostly USa weapons on it. They insult countries that do not do as they want.
Withdraw troops from Europe at a so called time of high tension.
It works both ways, if we restrict their over flights, access to bases etc.
Being unfriendly to Israel, doesn’t help, just to appease certain labour voters, in some of our third
world like cities.
True, but Labour are are about party and voters not country
Why silly comment. This is a deal between the UK and a US listed but not owned private company. If they don’t deliver on a contract, there should be legal consequences that we can trigger. The UK disagrees with the Iran war and so no reason to support them by allowing our contracts to slip.
Declined to name the specific weapons affected, How about anything? that will teach you to rely on the US.
Of course Israel comes first, did anyone think any different ?
We use the AIM-9X on our Typhoons?? News to me, I thought Typhoon used the ASRAAM only for short range engagements.
Our F35s also only use ASRAAM
Yes, surprised me too. I thought Sidewinder had long been replaced by ASRAAM.
I think that’s a mistake, there is no record of 9X in UK service, last we used was the 9M. Unless we are buying some to gift to Ukraine ?
Simple fact – we need to make as much as we can of the essential things, especially munitions.
it seems it is going to take quite some time for the US to replenish there stock of Tomahawk cruise missiles
It will take them years to replenish their air defence missile stockpiles.
Indeed. this was an article linked on Yahoo Finance that give some time scales, from memory, Tomahawk was the worst, Patriot was also quite bad
Up to 80% of the THAAD stockpile has been used.
Tomahawk is 1000 down out of 3000 total inventory. Going to take them 5 years to re-build stock.
Will or can the Brimstone be integrated on the Apaches or F35Bs?
Can it? Yes.
Will it? That involves spending money so I highly doubt it.
Well, you and your uncle knows what the solution to this shortage is.
AIM9x? Since when? ASRAAM has been our standard for donkeys years.
Isn’t it being used on air defence donated to Ukraine?? Could well be that.
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