U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is cosponsoring a bipartisan bill that would establish the Critical Munitions Acquisition Fund to ensure the United States maintains sufficient critical munitions stocks that can support allies and partners while maintaining America’s military stocks.
“While Putin’s illegal invasion resulted in a swift and robust response from the United States and our NATO allies to arm the Ukrainian military,” said Sen. Tillis, “it exposed the fact that we have major inadequacies with our current munitions stocks.”
Specifically, the Promoting Readiness for Overseas Contingencies and Unexpected Responses to Exigencies (PROCURE) Act, S. 4972, which U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sponsored on Sept. 28, would create the Critical Munitions Acquisition Fund (CMAF) to allow the U.S. Secretary of Defense to better manage industry production lines and sustain particular munitions lines that are critical to U.S. national security interests, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Tillis’ staff.
Additionally, the authorities granted in the CMAF under S. 4972 would help improve how the U.S. Department of Defense anticipates the industry’s supply chain needs, the summary says.
“Our bipartisan PROCURE Act is essential to improving America’s capacity to quickly arm our allies in potential future conflicts without drawing from our own munitions stocks, which will greatly enhance our national security and military readiness,” said Sen. Tillis.
Among the original cosponsors of S. 4972 are U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Deb Fischer (R-NE).