We only have some many arrows in our quiver

While I'm generally in favor of our support of the Ukrainians, there is an issue. There are only so  many weapons in our arsenal.  

We're pushing thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles out that we are depleting our stockpile. And these are items you don't just pick up at the hardware store. They  have to be ordered, the assembly line must  be re-established, etc. More from this article 

Raytheon CEO Outlines Severe Depletion of Javelin and Stinger Stockpiles amid Ukraine Aid Push

Simi Valley, Calif. — Raytheon Technologies CEO Greg Hayes today described the extensive depletion of U.S. stockpiles — equivalent to years’ worth of production — of Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles amid Washington’s program to support the Ukrainian war effort...

...Hayes spoke about U.S. defense industrial production during a panel on Ukraine at the Reagan National Defense Forum, a high-profile defense-industry confab that attracts a bipartisan congressional delegation, defense contractors, and top Pentagon officials every year.

Although Raytheon is producing 400 Javelins per month with Lockheed Martin as a manufacturing partner, he said, the ongoing fighting in Ukraine has burned through existing weapons stocks.

“The problem is we have consumed so much supply in the first ten months of the war,” he said. “We’ve essentially used up 13 years’ worth of Stinger production and five years’ worth of Javelin production.”

“So the question is, how are we going to resupply, restock inventories,” Hayes added. Raytheon produced Stingers starting in 1977, but the Pentagon had not bought a new Stinger system since 2004, Hayes said in April.

As of May, Washington had sent 5,500 Javelins and 1,400 Stingers to Ukraine. Raytheon won a $624 million contract with the Army that month to backfill U.S. Stinger stocks...

When I served in 1st Battalion 3rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Ft Carson CO, we had a dome simulator for our Stinger gunner to practice with. Every year we got less than 10 Vietnam era Redeye missiles (the predatory to the Stinger) to live fire. Granted, this was enough training for most gunners (like simulator time for an airline pilot).

But this shows how easily you can go though your basic load of munitions quickly. And unlike fuel, oil, or small arms ammunition, missiles like this cannot be purchased off the shelf. We need a larger supply to draw upon with the rise of Russia, China and Iran. Not just for us, but our allies. Example one, Ukraine. Example two, Taiwan.