Years for U.S. to ramp up interceptor production, former NATO official warns

“U.S. Patriot [interceptor] production is currently about 600 missiles a year,” Bauer said in an interview with NV Radio on April 20.

“There is an agreement to raise that to roughly 2,000 a year. But that will happen over the next seven years. So, it will happen in 2033 if everything goes well.”

He said it is difficult for the Unted States and EU to prioritize weapons production over other needs because many people in the United States and much of Europe do not believe their countries are at war.

“I think this [prioritizing weapons production] is necessary; we all need to focus,” the admiral added.

“The problem is the Russians now have a war economy — they are producing more than they need for the war against Ukraine. That means the Russians are effectively already strengthening their forces compared with what they were at least in 2022. And, of course, their goal is to become stronger than they are now.”

Bauer named a second obstacle: raw materials.

“Scaling up production requires not only workers, factories and approvals, but also the raw materials for this weaponry,” he noted.

“A growing share of that raw material is now in China’s hands. China is helping Russia. So it’s getting harder to get easy access to materials, especially rare-earth metals needed for very sophisticated weapons such as the Patriot.”