Overview
- Reporting this week showed that U.S. forces have used roughly 80 percent of THAAD interceptors and large shares of ATACMS, PrSM, Patriot interceptors and Tomahawk missiles during five months of combat with Iran.
- Those losses have already shaped policy decisions, with officials saying shortages helped persuade President Trump to postpone planned strikes and to rely on redistributed global stocks.
- The Pentagon has asked Congress for about a 40 percent increase in its budget for re‑arming and has awarded accelerated production contracts, but current delivery rates are slow compared with recent consumption.
- Independent analysts at CSIS and other experts warn that rebuilding THAAD and other high‑end inventories will take years because interceptors and long‑range precision missiles are costly and time‑consuming to manufacture.
- Gulf partners that rely on U.S. air defenses now worry about gaps in their protection and military planners fear the shortages could constrain U.S. readiness for other potential crises in Asia or Europe.