Afrasianet - The U.S. military has depleted a large percentage of its stockpile of essential missiles during the war with Iran, raising fears that it could face an "imminent shortage" of ammunition in the event of a new military conflict in the coming years, according to a CNN report.
According to a new study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies seen by CNN, along with Pentagon insiders, the U.S. military has consumed at least 45 percent of its stockpile of precision-striking missiles in the last seven weeks of the war, in addition to more than 50 percent of THAAD missiles intended for ballistic missile interception, and about 50 percent of Patriot interceptor missiles for air defense.
Between three and five years to refill the stock
Although the Pentagon earlier this year signed contracts aimed at expanding missile production, it would take three to five years to replenish those stockpiles even as production capacity increased, according to CNN, citing experts.
According to the same study, about 30 percent of Tomahawk winged missiles, more than 20 percent of JASSM long-range air-to-surface missiles, and about 20 percent of SM-3 and SM-6 missiles have been consumed, with estimates that these systems could take four to five years to reproduce.
Insufficient stocks to face Beijing, for example
In the short term, the U.S. military is likely to retain enough ammunition to continue its military operations against Iran in the event of a fragile ceasefire. But the current stockpile of vital munitions is no longer enough to counter an adversary like China.
Mark Kansian, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and co-author of the Center for Strategic and International Studies report, said that "the high consumption of munitions has created a window of increasing fragility in the Western Pacific."
These figures contradict US President Donald Trump 's recent statements, in which he stressed that Washington does not suffer from a shortage of any kind of weapons, despite his request for additional funding to offset consumption resulting from the war with Iran.
