Iran war has drained US military’s supply of critical, costly weapons significantly: Report

The United States is reportedly running low on some weapons amid the war with Iran, according to internal Pentagon estimates and congressional officials. Since the war began in late February, the US military has used about 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles built for a war with China, close to the total number remaining in the American stockpile.

According to a report in The New York Times, the military has also fired more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, or about 10 times the number it currently buys each year. Pentagon estimates and congressional officials told the news site that the war has left inventories of some key munitions worrisomely low after the use of more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles, which cost more than $4 million each, and more than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles.

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The 38-day conflict, which ended in a ceasefire that took effect two weeks ago, has significantly drained much of the US military's global supply of munitions. Trump administration and congressional officials say the Pentagon has had to rush bombs, missiles and other hardware to the Middle East from commands in Asia and Europe, leaving those regional commands less ready to confront potential adversaries such as Russia and China.

Officials also said the war has forced the US to find ways to increase production to make up for the losses, the report added. The conflict has underscored the Pentagon's reliance on costly missiles and munitions, especially air-defence interceptors, and raised concerns about whether the defence industry can produce cheaper weapons, especially attack drones, much more quickly.

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The Defence Department has not disclosed how many munitions it used during the war. The Pentagon has said it hit more than 13,000 targets, but officials say that figure does not reflect the scale of bomb and missile use because warplanes, attack aircraft and artillery usually strike large targets multiple times.

White House officials have not estimated the cost of the conflict so far, but two independent groups have put it between $28 billion and $35 billion, or just under $1 billion a day. Defence officials also told lawmakers that in the first two days alone, the military used $5.6 billion worth of munitions.

Restoring the US global stockpile to its earlier level will require difficult choices on where to maintain military strength in the meantime. 

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