The U.S. Navy used its munitions at an "alarming rate" to defend Israel from recent Iranian strikes, a military official said Tuesday, raising questions from lawmakers about how it intends to replace and maintain stockpiles amid global threats.
Admiral James Kilby, Naval Operations acting chief, made the remark in his testimony during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Navys budget in Washington when Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, asked about the Navys available munitions to defend against global threats.
"The latest round of conflict in the Middle East utilized large amounts of munitions to defend Israel from Iranian strikes," Schatz said. "Does the Navy currently have all the SM-3s it needs for global threats?"
"We do, sir," Kilby responded, "but we are, to your point, using them at an alarming rate. As you know, those are missiles procured by the Missile Defense Agency and then delivered to the Navy for our use. And we are using them quite effectively in the defense of Israel."
An SM-3, or Standard Missile 3 , are missiles that the Navy uses as a defense to intercept and destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
"We need more munitions, air defense interceptors, long-range fires, artillery," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said during the hearing. "Recent conflict tells us we need a lot more of them."
McConnell asked how the Navy and Marine Corps were addressing the challenge of these munitions not being produced fast enough.
John Phelan, secretary of the Navy, said this was a main concern that officials were focusing on to "get fixed."
"We are looking at a number of different avenues, including other parties and different ways of making some of these munitions," Phelan said. "This is a huge priority from both the secretary of defense and the president, and we are putting as much effort and time into this as we are in shipbuilding."
一位美军官员周二表示，美国海军为防御伊朗近期对以色列的袭击，以"惊人速度"消耗了弹药储备。此举引发国会议员质疑：面对全球威胁，美方将如何补充并维持其军火库存。
海军作战代理部长詹姆斯·基尔比上将（Admiral James Kilby）在华盛顿参议院拨款委员会关于海军预算的听证会上作证时作出上述表态。当时，夏威夷州民主党参议员布莱恩·沙茨（Sen. Brian Schatz）问及海军可用于抵御全球威胁的现役弹药储备情况。
沙茨表示："中东地区最新一轮冲突中，为防御伊朗袭击以色列消耗了大量弹药。海军当前是否拥有应对全球威胁所需的全部SM-3导弹？"
"确实如此，长官，" 基尔比（Kilby）回应道，"但正如您所指出的，我们正在以惊人的速度消耗这些导弹。您知道，这些是由导弹防御局采购，随后交付海军供我们使用的导弹。我们在保卫以色列的行动中非常有效地使用了它们。"
SM-3导弹，即标准3型导弹，是美国海军用于拦截并摧毁中短程弹道导弹的防御性武器。
肯塔基州共和党参议员米奇·麦康奈尔在听证会上表示：“我们需要更多弹药、防空拦截导弹、远程火力系统和火炮。最近的冲突表明，我们亟需大幅增加这类物资的储备。”
麦康奈尔询问海军及海军陆战队如何应对这些弹药生产速度不足的挑战。
海军部长约翰·费伦（John Phelan）表示，这是官员们当前重点关注的、亟待解决的问题。
费伦表示："我们正在探索多种不同途径，包括与其他方合作以及采用不同方式生产部分弹药。这对国防部长和总统而言都是重中之重，我们正投入与造船业同等规模的资源和时间来解决这一问题。"
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