Sizing missile stockpiles for a sustained campaign

What is a sound ratio between naval missiles deployed at sea and reloads held in the pipeline?

There is no fixed ratio: planners must model war length and expenditure, then test whether production can genuinely replace the missiles used.

A full reload can be a large inventory while sustaining only a short campaign. The answer bases the required stock on expected war duration, expenditure, and actual factory output. It criticizes major powers' production assumptions as overoptimistic, arguing that funded surge plans were accepted without realistic tests. The further assumption that major-power war must end almost immediately in nuclear escalation is also challenged. Reluctance to use nuclear weapons is taken as a reason to prepare for conventional fighting lasting months. The argument therefore treats tested production capacity as part of ammunition endurance, alongside missiles already held ashore.