War with Iran depleted United States’ stockpiles of key missiles, CNN reports
Photo: Patriot air defense system (Getty Images)
During a few weeks of war with Iran, the United States used up a significant portion of its missile stockpiles. These include key systems whose replenishment could take years, CNN informs.
According to experts and sources familiar with internal US Department of Defense data, the war with Iran has created a "near-term risk" of ammunition depletion in the event of a future conflict, if such a scenario occurs in the coming years.
How many missiles have already been used
According to a new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), at least 45% of precision-guided missile stockpiles were expended over the past seven weeks. About half of the THAAD interceptor missiles and nearly 50% of Patriot system stockpiles were also used.
In addition, the United States spent approximately 30% of its Tomahawk missiles, more than 20% of long-range JASSM missiles, and about 20% of SM-3 and SM-6 interceptor missiles.
Is the United States ready for a new war?
According to analysts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in the short term, the United States likely still has enough bombs and missiles to continue military operations against Iran under any scenario, should a fragile ceasefire fail.
However, the number of remaining critical munitions in US stockpiles is no longer sufficient for a confrontation with a near-peer adversary such as China. It would likely take years before these stockpiles return to pre-war levels.
"The high munitions expenditures have created a window of increased vulnerability in the western Pacific," said Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and one of the report’s authors.
According to him, it would take "one to four years to replenish these inventories and several years after that to expand them to where they need to be."
At the same time, the Pentagon says the US military still has enough resources to carry out its missions.
"Since President Trump took office, we have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests," said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
In the early days of the Middle East conflict, Israel, together with allies, used about 800 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian targets. By comparison, Ukraine has received roughly 600 such missiles throughout the entire full-scale war.
Against this backdrop, the Pentagon has reportedly asked the White House to approve a request to Congress for more than $200 billion to fund operations against Iran, reflecting the scale of resource needs and rapidly rising costs.
According to estimates, in just the first 12 days of the operation, the US spent a significant portion of high-precision munitions that had been stockpiled over years. Their replenishment will require time and substantial financial resources.
