Out of ammo: Pentagon urged to buy fast, cheap weapons to plug China gap

WASHINGTON, 19 AUGUST 2026 —

The U.S. Department of Defense should immediately buy thousands of low-cost drones, sensors and missiles under relaxed procurement rules to plug a two-year gap in its arsenal before a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan, a Council on Foreign Relations report recommends.

According to the report, Washington’s stocks of precision-guided munitions have fallen sharply after the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, while high-end systems such as submarines and fighter jets cannot be produced quickly enough to deter Beijing. The authors argue that “precise mass” systems—cheap, expendable weapons that can be manufactured in large numbers—offer the only realistic near-term fix.

“If war with China comes in the next two years, victory could depend on spending already-appropriated funds more quickly, relaxing procurement rules, and using every available industrial policy tool to expand production rapidly,” the report states. It calls for immediate wartime-style production, including short- and long-range one-way attack drones, containerised cruise missiles and low-cost sensors, all adapted from commercial technology where possible.

Legacy systems remain critical for a “high-low” mix, the report says, but their long production timelines and supply-chain bottlenecks make them unsuitable for urgent scaling. China’s military, by contrast, has fielded the world’s fastest modernisation drive, with a stated goal of being able to “reunify” with Taiwan by 2027. U.S.

stocks of air-defence interceptors and GPS-guided bombs are already under stress after Operation Epic Fury, while the Pentagon’s push to boost replenishment rates will take years to show results.

The report singles out the Biden administration’s Replicator Initiative—aimed at fielding thousands of low-cost autonomous systems within 18–24 months—as a step in the right direction. It also notes the use of the Defense Production Act to shore up supply chains for hypersonic systems and solid-rocket motors. Still, more initiatives are required to match the scale of the Chinese threat, the authors warn.

Procurement reform is central to the plan. The authors urge the Pentagon to prioritise schedule over cost and perfection, accepting manageable risks of waste or quality shortfalls in exchange for speed. They acknowledge that relaxing standards could invite fraud or abuse, but argue that the risk of delay far outweighs the downsides—provided safeguards are time-bound and system-specific.

The report does not propose a full redesign of the defence industrial base, focusing instead on temporary departures from normal practice to meet the two-year window. It adds that many of the recommended changes would strengthen U.S. capabilities in theatres beyond the Indo-Pacific.

There is no direct Malaysian market impact from the report’s findings.

Related: Washington