For the reason that Iran battle started in late February, the USA has burned by round 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles constructed for a battle with China, near the overall quantity remaining within the U.S. stockpile. The army has fired off greater than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missilesroughly 10 instances the quantity it presently buys annually.
The Pentagon used greater than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles within the battle, at greater than $4 million a pop, and greater than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles, leaving inventories worrisomely low, in accordance with inside Protection Division estimates and congressional officers.
The Iran battle has considerably drained a lot of the U.S. army’s world provide of munitions, and compelled the Pentagon to hurry bombs, missiles and different {hardware} to the Center East from instructions in Asia and Europe. The drawdowns have left these regional instructions much less able to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, and it has pressured the USA to search out methods to scale up manufacturing to handle the depletions, Trump administration and congressional officers say.
The battle has additionally underscored the Pentagon’s overreliance on excessively costly missiles and munitions, particularly air-defense interceptors, in addition to issues about whether or not the protection trade can develop cheaper arms, particularly attack dronesmuch more rapidly.
The Protection Division has not disclosed what number of munitions it utilized in 38 days of battle earlier than a cease-fire took impact two weeks in the past. The Pentagon says it hit greater than 13,000 targets, however officers say that determine masks the huge variety of bombs and missiles it used as a result of warplanes, assault planes and artillery usually strike giant targets a number of instances.
White Home officers have refused to estimate the price of the battle thus far, however two independent groups say the expense is staggering: between $28 billion and $35 billion, or simply underneath $1 billion a day.
Within the first two days alone, protection officers have advised lawmakers, the army used $5.6 billion of munitions.
To revive the U.S. world stockpile to its earlier dimension, the USA should make powerful selections about the place to take care of its army power within the meantime. “At present manufacturing charges, reconstituting what we’ve got expended might take years,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the highest Democrat on the Armed Companies Committee, mentioned this week.
“The US has many munitions with ample inventories, however some crucial ground-attack and missile-defense munitions had been quick earlier than the battle and are even shorter now,” mentioned Mark F. Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and a senior adviser on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, which lately revealed a study estimating the standing of key munitions.
Karoline Leavitt, the White Home press secretary, mentioned in a press release that “the whole premise of this story is fake.” She added: “The US of America has essentially the most highly effective army on the earth, absolutely loaded with greater than sufficient weapons and munitions, in stockpiles right here at dwelling and throughout the globe, to successfully defend the homeland and obtain any army operation directed by the commander in chief.”
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, declined to touch upon “any particular theater necessities or element our world useful resource capabilities,” citing operational safety.
Some Republicanstogether with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chairman of the subcommittee that funds the Pentagon, have pressed for a rise in spending on munitions manufacturing over a number of administrations. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth has made that purpose a prime precedence throughout his tenure.
Making issues extra perilous for the Pentagon, officers say, is that the Protection Division is ready for Congress to approve extra funding earlier than it could actually pay weapons producers to replenish the depleted American provide. In January, the administration introduced that it had secured seven-year agreements with main protection contractors, together with Lockheed Martin, to extend manufacturing capability for protection techniques like missile interceptors.
The settlement known as for quadrupling the manufacturing of precision-guided munitions and THAAD missile interceptors. Protection producers, for his or her half, agreed to fund manufacturing facility expansions in trade for secured long-term orders.
However officers mentioned there had been no motion to really start the expanded manufacturing, as a result of the Pentagon was scrambling to search out the funding.
Within the meantime, the army is utilizing its current weapons provides at steep charges to fulfill Central Command’s instant wants within the Iran battle. Sure munition ranges are shrinking sooner than others.
The Pentagon, for instance, has dedicated most of its stock of stealthy, long-range cruise missiles to the combat towards Iran. These missiles, known as Joint Air-to-Floor Standoff Missile-Prolonged Vary, or JASSM-ER, are launched from fighters and bombers and have a variety of greater than 600 miles. They’re designed to penetrate onerous targets exterior the vary of enemy air defenses.
For the reason that battle began, the army has used about 1,100 JASSM-ER missiles, which value roughly $1.1 million apiece, leaving roughly 1,500 within the army’s inventories, in accordance with inside Pentagon estimates, a U.S. army official and a congressional official who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate confidential fight assessments.
Tomahawks, which value about $3.6 million every, are long-range cruise missiles which were extensively used for U.S. warfighting for the reason that first Persian Gulf Struggle in 1991. They continue to be a key munition for potential future wars, together with one in Asia.
“Whereas enough munitions exist to wage this battle, excessive expenditure of Tomahawks and different missiles in Operation Epic Fury creates dangers for the USA in different theaters — significantly the Western Pacific,” concluded a C.S.I.S. studywhich estimated the remaining Tomahawk stockpiles to be round 3,000 missiles.
Patriot interceptor missiles can value practically $4 million every. The US produced about 600 of them in all of 2025. Greater than 1,200 have been used within the battle thus far, in accordance with inside Pentagon estimates and congressional officers.
General, the price of the battle thus far is between $25 billion and $35 billion, in accordance with a study this month by the American Enterprise Institute compiled by Elaine McCusker, a senior Pentagon official in the course of the first Trump administration. Mr. Cancian of C.S.I.S. mentioned in an electronic mail that he and his analysts put the price of the battle thus far at about $28 billion.
The army can also be incurring sudden prices from broken or destroyed plane. In the Navy SEAL Team 6 operation to rescue a downed Air Force officer in Iran, the army needed to destroy two MC-130 cargo planes and no less than three MH-6 helicopters inside them after the planes’ nostril gear bought caught within the moist sand of a makeshift airstrip. Mr. Cancian estimated the overall value of the misplaced plane at about $275 million. Three substitute planes ultimately flew the airman and the commandos to security, however the Pentagon didn’t need delicate know-how from the plane to fall into Iranian palms.
All regional army commanders are feeling the pressure of shrinking munitions shares.
In Europe, the battle has led to depletions in weapons techniques crucial for defending the jap flank of NATO from Russian aggression, in accordance with Pentagon data reviewed by The New York Occasions.
An issue described as severe was the lack of surveillance and assault drones. The calls for of the Iran battle have additionally curtailed workout routines and coaching. In line with army officers, this hurts the flexibility to mount offensive operations in Europe, in addition to deterrence of potential Russian assaults.
Requested concerning the shortcomings, Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, the top of U.S. European Command, mentioned in a press release, “Our warfighters are happy with the assist we’ve offered to USCENTCOM in assist of President Trump’s historic operations towards Iran.”
However the largest affect has been on troops in Asia.
Earlier than the battle with Iran began, American army commanders redirected the usS. Abraham Lincoln service strike group from the South China Sea to the Center East. Since then, two Marine Expeditionary Models, every with about 2,200 Marines, have been despatched to the Center East from the Pacific. The Pentagon has additionally moved sophisticated air defenses from Asia to bolster safety towards Iran’s drones and rockets.
The redirected weapons embrace Patriot missiles and interceptors from the THAAD system in South Korea — the one Asian ally internet hosting the superior missile protection system, deployed by the Pentagon to counter North Korea’s rising missile risk. Now, for the primary time, the system’s interceptors are being moved away, in accordance with American officers.
U.S. readiness within the Pacific was damage earlier by the Pentagon’s deployment of warships and plane to the Center East after the Israel-Gaza battle started in October 2023 and after Houthi militia forces in Yemen began attacking ships within the Purple Sea to assist the Palestinians, the officers say.
The monthlong bombing marketing campaign towards the Houthis final 12 months — an operation the Pentagon called Rough Rider — was a lot bigger than the Trump administration initially disclosed on the time. The Pentagon used up about $200 million of munitions within the first three weeks alone, U.S. officers mentioned. The prices of the general operation far exceeded $1 billion when operational and personnel bills had been taken under consideration, the officers added.
The American ships and plane, in addition to the service members engaged on them, are being pushed at what the army calls a excessive working tempo. Even primary gear upkeep turns into a difficulty underneath these grinding situations.
A spokeswoman for Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr., the top of the army’s Indo-Pacific Command, declined to touch upon the arms diverted from Asia to the Center East.
Admiral Paparo largely sidestepped the difficulty of stockpile shortages throughout a Senate listening to on Tuesday, acknowledging solely that “there are finite limits to the journal.”
Michael Schwirtz and Adam Goldman contributed reporting from London. John Ismay, Helene Cooper and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from Washington.
