The United States has depleted billions of dollars worth of its critical weapons stockpile during President Donald Trump's ongoing military campaign against Iran, according to a new report. The Pentagon has fired more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles, each costing over $4 million, alongside more than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles, as reported by congressional officials and internal Defense Department estimates obtained by The New York Times.
Extensive Use of Advanced Munitions
The US military has also deployed approximately 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles originally intended for a potential conflict with China, nearly exhausting the remaining inventory. Furthermore, more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been launched, roughly ten times the annual procurement rate, the report indicated.
Estimated Costs and Replenishment Challenges
While White House officials have not provided an official cost estimate for the war, independent groups calculate the expense at between $28 billion and $35 billion, according to The New York Times. A separate study by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) this month suggests the war has cost between $25 billion and $35 billion, with $5.6 billion spent in the first two days alone, a congressional source told The Hill.
Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, warned that rebuilding the stockpile could take years. “At current production rates, reconstituting what we have expended could take years,” he stated this week. The Defense Department is awaiting congressional approval for additional funds before it can sign off on replenishing the military's diminishing supply.
Production Delays and Expert Concerns
Although the Trump administration announced in January that it had secured seven-year agreements with defense contractors to ramp up production, officials told The New York Times that no expanded production efforts have begun, as the White House scrambles to source the necessary funds for the war.
Mark F. Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted, “The United States has many munitions with adequate inventories, but some critical ground-attack and missile-defense munitions were short before the war and are even shorter now.”
White House Denial
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the report, calling the “entire premise of this story” false. She stated, “The United States of America has the most powerful military in the world, fully loaded with more than enough weapons and munitions, in stockpiles here at home and all around the globe, to effectively defend the homeland and achieve any military operation directed by the commander in chief.”
