 So either the USAF is dumb and doesn't understand how manufacturing works, so it's bought into "additive manufacturing" as a means to "flexibly" "produce" weapons "just-in-time" or whatever Forbes writers think these days, or it's deliberately looking to downsize its AMRAAM production capacity without seriously impacting theaters' abilities to maintain their war reserve stockpiles, because it knows exactly what its doing. Either could be the actual reason, but I'd imagine it's the latter. The last time the USAF actually fired an AMRAAM in anger was probably over Kosovo, so it's not a common occurrence that a theater is forced to expend any significant portions of its AAM stockpiles. 