After more than a year of extensive military activity, the United States is confronting an unfamiliar concern: the possibility that its stockpile of air defense interceptors could run low as the war with Iran continues.
When Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine presented President Donald Trump with the risks of a large-scale, expanded campaign against Iran, he warned in particular about ammunition shortages and the lack of broad military backing from U.S. allies, according to U.S. officials familiar with the discussions. Pentagon leaders have repeatedly raised concerns about munitions inventories.
The issue is now being tested as Washington races to bring the conflict to an end. The deaths of six American service members in Kuwait have heightened tensions inside the Defense Department.
“The mood is intense and alarmed,” one Pentagon source told The Washington Post.
The exact size of the U.S. stockpile of air defense interceptors is classified. But repeated confrontations in the Middle East have steadily drawn down supplies in the region.
“One of the challenges is that interceptor stockpiles are being depleted very quickly,” Kelly Grieco, a defense expert, told The Wall Street Journal. “We’re using them faster than we can replace them.”
U.S. forces have been heavily engaged across the region, including naval operations in the Gulf of Oman, where American forces said they destroyed 11 Iranian warships during the conflict.
Pentagon officials are concerned that if the war stretches on for weeks, limited air defense inventories could become a central factor in determining how long the campaign can be sustained. One official said the public may not fully grasp the strain the operations place on stockpiles, noting that two or three interceptors are often required to ensure a single incoming missile is destroyed.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the operation would further strain munitions supplies that were already under pressure.
“This is one of the things that should have been thought about in advance,” Smith said. “It’s not like we can say, ‘Hey, Iran, we’re out of missile defense systems, so let’s pause for a second.’ It’s going to stretch our ability to defend everything we need to defend.”
Trump has dismissed concerns about shortages. In recent remarks and social media posts, he said the United States has an “almost unlimited” supply of critical ammunition and that U.S. stockpiles of mid- and high-level munitions have “never been bigger or better.”
The president also criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, accusing him of depleting U.S. weapons stockpiles by supplying arms to Ukraine without adequately replenishing them.
“But I rebuilt our military,” Trump said.