Pentagon forms task force to accelerate weapon supply to Asia, Europe

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The Pentagon has established a special task force - the "Tiger team" - to facilitate arms sales to Washington's allies, according to a senior US defense official to Wall Street Journal. 

The force was assembled in August, and its main task is to speed up the process of delivering US-made weapons to foreign entities, according to the outlet in a Friday article. 

The new Pentagon body is co-chaired by two under-secretaries of defense, in addition to representatives from the military institution, tasked with providing various services. 

“It’s about the mechanical steps in the process,” the official told the WSJ. “How can we do a better job of bringing inefficiencies out of the system that will apply to all of the countries that we work with?”

The source revealed that the team was launched due to the mounting tensions with China over Taiwan, in addition to the urge to send more weapons to Europe. Washington's European allies' arsenals have, at large, been depleted due to recklessly providing Ukraine with arms.

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“The longstanding argument for American equipment is that it is the best – and it is the best,” an official said. “That also makes it the most expensive, it’s not cheap.”

Just earlier today, Saturday, the Biden administration announced the sale of $1.1bn worth of arms to Taiwan. 

Washington sees that the complicated approval process of sending arms has been putting the US at a disadvantage in knocking China (and Russia) off its seat as a rising power. Arms sales are executed by the Pentagon and State Department and they require approval by the US Congress. 

“That slow pace can leave some countries unsure if the US really wants them as partners and risks sending countries with whom the US wants to stay close elsewhere to shop for arms,” the outlet pointed out.

Former secretary of the US Navy, Richard Spencer, applauded the situation, slamming the diplomatic obstacles which have impeded weapon flows from Washington to the world: “The building has to get agility. We are sclerotic, we are arthritic, we have to get over it,” he said. 

However, despite this move, a reality haunts the US at home: Washington itself has a shortage in weapon and ammunition stockpiles due to its fueling of the war in Ukraine, according to the WSJ. 

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