U.S. Critical Air-Defense Munitions Depleted as Iran War Stretches Supplies

The war against Iran, described by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as the most munitions-intensive campaign in decades, has exhausted U.S. inventories of advanced long-range weapons. Senior U.S. officials say stocks of ATACMS, Tomahawk cruise missiles and precision-strike munitions are largely depleted. Interceptor inventories have fallen sharply: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles are down by as much as 80 percent, and the Pentagon has used roughly two-thirds of its Patriot missiles. Military commanders have warned that supplies are “dangerously low.”

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Even before the Iran conflict, demand for Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptors outstripped global production, which averages 600–700 units annually. “Public figures for global production of Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles generally sit between 600 and 700 per year. There was a greater demand than that from global Patriot users including particularly Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and the UAE prior to Operation Epic Fury.” — Technology Justin Bronk, senior research fellow at the defence think-tank Rusi, notes that Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were already drawing heavily on the limited output. Larger interceptors such as THAAD and SM-6/SM-3 are produced in far smaller quantities and have been expended at high rates since the 2024 Israeli-Iranian exchanges.

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Gulf states have fired roughly 800 Patriot interceptors against Iranian missiles and are now struggling to replace them. European nations, including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain, transferred U.S.-supplied Patriots to Ukraine, further depleting their own stocks. Defence expert Lami Kim of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) describes European stockpiles as “markedly reduced” and warns that Europe may be near the end of the export queue, with Gulf partners likely to receive priority when production ramps up. Ukraine reports daily shortages, prompting commanders to fire missiles one-by-one rather than the usual salvo.

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Deputy defence secretary Steve Feinberg, in an internal memo confirmed by the Pentagon, urged industry to accelerate delivery schedules, calling the existing multi-year development cycles “unacceptable.” President Donald Trump has denied any shortage and has threatened severe penalties for leaks, while also indicating a possible licence for Ukraine to produce its own Patriots—a proposal that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says would take years to materialise.

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• Patriot interceptors used by Gulf partners: ~800

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• Patriot missiles consumed: ~66 % of U.S. stock

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• THAAD interceptor reduction: up to 80 %

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• Global annual Patriot PAC-3 MSE production: 600–700 units

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• European countries that transferred Patriots to Ukraine: Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain

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The combined effect of high consumption, limited production capacity and competing allied demands leaves global air-defence readiness in a precarious state.

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