The United States has nearly exhausted much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month conflict with Iran, Reuters has reported citing three people familiar with the data.
The US Army stockpiles are allegedly witnessing a depletion of surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). According to two sources cited by the news agency in an exclusive report, the American army has used “virtually all” of these weapons, raising concerns about its military readiness for any future conflicts. The degree to which the military is running out of ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles has not been reported previously. HT has not independently verified this information.
When asked about the stockpile data, the White House issued a statement from Trump, saying the US Army had “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and “far more than we need”.
Trump said the defence companies were “making more munitions than they have ever made before”, and added that they were expanding their plants and equipment at record levels.
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While analysts agreed that certain munitions, including artillery shells and several types of missiles, were being produced at record levels, they also warned that these supplies might fall short of what might be needed for a prolonged war.
The sources cited by Reuters also declined to comment on how many of each munition the US has left. United States launched the war on Iran in February this year aling with Israel, with US President Donald Trump predicting it would last a short while. However, Iran retaliated by striking US bases in other countries in the region and closing the critical Strait of Hormuz, which was used as a waterway passage for a one-fifth of the world’s crude oil supply.
What does the ‘depletion’ mean?
The reported depletion of these precision, long-range missiles means that if Trump decides to relaunch large-scale attacks on Iran, he may have to rely on riskier, piloted bombing missions, according to Reuters.
The long-range precision munitions, which cost more than $1 million each, constitute an important part of the American Army arsenal. These allow accurate strikes from a safe distance. The ATACMS has already been deployed in the war in Ukraine, allowing Ukrainian forces to attack targets inside Russia. The PrSM is a relatively newer, more advanced generation which can replace the ATACMS, which has a shorter range.
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Even as the conflict continues despite a ceasefire being announced in June, the three people familiar with the matter have expressed concern that the exhausting supplies could limit the US ability to deter adversaries like Russia and China, Reuters reported.
However, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said “America’s military is the most powerful in the world”, adding that it has “everything it needs” to execute anything at the time and place of Trump’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,” Parnell said.
Defensive weapon stocks have also depleted
According to a report published by CSIS, about 65% of Patriot interceptors had been expended between February and July. The number of THAAD ballistic missile interceptors in the US stockpiles were also 38 per cent lower in comparison to when the war started.
Patriots and THAADs are systems that detect and destroy incoming missiles. The US has also already deployed a little less than half of its global supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles since the start of the war, Reuters cited one of the sources as saying. The Tomahawk is a navy weapon, and is generally launched from ships.