It could take the US military 3 years to restock its missile defenses

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It could take the US military 3 years to restock its missile defenses 图片 1
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Since the war with Iran began in February, U.S. forces in the Middle East have burned through their supply of ground-based air defense missiles to fend off Iranian attacks.

Now the U.S. military could need about three years — and possibly longer — to restock its inventory of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missiles to pre-war levels, experts told Task & Purpose.

The U.S. military may have fired up to 67% of its Patriot missiles and as many as 48% of its THAAD interceptors since the Iran war began, according to a recent analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

“Diminished stockpiles may force the United States and its coalition partners to take more risks with interceptions,” the CSIS analysis says. “There are no good alternatives to Patriot and THAAD for ballistic missile defense. Navy ships, with Standard Missiles that can intercept such threats, generally are too far away.”

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Iran has launched barrages of drones and missiles against U.S. bases in the Middle East as well as partner countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait. That has made air defense one of the most important missions of the war, putting a great strain on the U.S. military’s stockpile of interceptors.

As things now stand, the inventory of Patriot missiles may have fallen from 2,330 to between 759 and 827 missiles, according to the CSIS analysis. The U.S. military’s arsenal of THAAD missiles may have also decreased from 452 to between 234…

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