Counterterrorism

Central Bomb Bank? US Loans Out Munitions to Friends in Fight Against Daesh

In recent weeks, the US Air Force has begun sharing bombs with NATO allies in an attempt to advance multilateral participation in coalition airstrikes against Daesh. This comes at a time when the Defense Department has raised alarms that US bomb and missile stockpiles are depleted and raises the question of whether the US taxpayer is ultimately footing the bill for the entire coalition.

Lt. Gen. John Raymond, deputy chief of staff for operations at Headquarters Air Force, said that right now there is an open bomb policy – coalition jets take from US stockpiles as needed without further process.

He sought to reassure the public in statements on Thursday, arguing that it is not only the US that is lending from stockpiles to coalition strikes. "We do have relationships with our coalition partners for those supplies; they are using those weapons as well," said Raymond.