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With Ukraine’s military using arms as quickly as the US supplies them, there are growing questions about when the US will start running low. Especially concerning is the US supply of "energetic materials" and its ability to produce more.
Energetic materials are the materials that help determine the range, size, and explosive power of munitions like missiles, rockets, and artillery, which are keys to controlling the battlefield. Energetics come in three main forms: explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics. And better energetics offer major advantages.
For example, they increase the range of missiles so adversaries may be targeted from safer distances. They also improve effectiveness, increasing the likelihood of destroying on a first attempt a target. Additionally, improved energetics allow building smaller munitions as effective as larger ones.
Unfortunately, the United States has not significantly invested in energetics since the Cold War ended, and its supply chain for a broad range of energetics is in a state of disrepair.
First, China is the sole or primary supplier for a number of critical energetic materials. Additionally, the US munitions supply chain suffers from a fearfully high number of single points of failure: 98% of suppliers in the production chain rely on a single or sole source. Finally, when the US produces energetics, it often does so in older government facilities using old, 20th century equipment and technology.
Experts also fear the United States has fallen behind deploying advanced energetics. Russia and China currently employ the most recent and powerful non-nuclear explosive in the world; CL-20, a nitroamine explosive. Alternatively, the US still relies on many of the same materials it used during World War II. The US also is badly behind in energetics research. For example, over the past five years, Chinese scientists have published nearly seven times as many papers discussing energetic materials as have US scientists.
Based on the above, experts recommend a number of steps. First, they recommend national security leaders recognize the importance of energetics and clearly signal a demand for new energetic compounds. Second, they recommend the US rebuild its domestic capacity to produce energetics and develop supply chains that do not rely on foreign nations or upon a few outdated facilities. Finally, they suggest Congress increase funding for the research and development of energetics making new breakthroughs using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
