US has used "virtually all" long-range precision missiles in the Iran war - report

The US Army has used up nearly all of its Army Tactical Missile Systems and Precision Strike Missiles during the five-month war with Iran. That is according to sources familiar with internal data who spoke with Reuters. The sources said the US has used "virtually all" of its Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) stockpiles. Another person familiar with the matter said US Central Command has nearly exhausted the land-based missiles it had before the war began, though it has been able to reload from military supplies elsewhere in the world.

The US also reportedly burned through a little less than half its global supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles since the war began.

Separately, a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report estimated that fewer than 827 Patriot interceptors and fewer than 278 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors remain in US stockpiles, down from a pre-war estimate of around 2,200 Patriots and 452 THAAD interceptors. CSIS assessed the US has fired more than 60% of its key Patriot and THAAD interceptors during the war.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited the dwindling stockpile in a meeting with Trump before he announced a pause in strikes against Iran, though that pause proved short-lived.

According to the CSIS, the war against Iran is a major driver of the shortage but not the only one, with the report also citing the post-Cold War shift toward smaller munitions inventories, a defense industrial base restructured for peacetime rather than surge production, and the fact that munitions have historically competed poorly against platforms like aircraft and ships in the Pentagon's budget process. The CSIS said transfers to Ukraine have been a relatively minor factor overall, with the notable exception of Patriot interceptors, about 600 of which have been sent to Ukraine since the start of that war.

Despite these reports, Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said, "America's military is the most powerful in the world and has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President's choosing. We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the US military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests." Trump said the US had "far more munitions than anyone in the world" and "far more than we need," adding that defense companies "are, at this moment, making more munitions than they have ever made before."

It is now being reported that US commanders, seeking to conserve interceptor missiles, are opting not to shoot down Iranian projectiles on track to hit unpopulated areas of US bases in the region, a shift from earlier practices. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said at a Senate appropriations hearing, "The shortfalls in munitions have been well known to this committee for some time." She says while these munitions shortfalls have been years in the making, they are growing increasingly urgent.