Defense

US weapons burn rate in Iran undermines plans to defend Taiwan: Reports

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by Ellen Mitchell - 04/24/26 5:53 PM ET

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by Ellen Mitchell - 04/24/26 5:53 PM ET

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The United States has burned through thousands of missiles since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, diminishing the armaments needed in a potential future conflict with China tied to its tensions with Taiwan.

The U.S. military has used 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles — nearly all of the total number left in Washington’s stockpile — and fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, The New York Times reported. The U.S. only produces roughly 100 Tomahawks a year, meaning under current production, it could take 10 years to replace.

In addition, in less than eight weeks American forces have spent more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles, one of the most expensive individual armaments at more than $4 million each. Another 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles also have been fired, officials told the Times.

The sheer rate of missile use has left U.S. stockpiles low, multiple outlets have reported.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank earlier this week found that the U.S. “may have expended more than half of the prewar inventory” of at least four key munitions, including Tomahawks.

While the U.S. “has enough missiles to continue fighting this war under any plausible scenario. The risk—which will persist for many years—lies in future wars.”

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command head Adm. Samuel Paparo on Tuesday told Senate Armed Services Committee lawmakers that it could take years to ramp up the building of such sophisticated munitions.

“I think it will take one to two years for them to scale,” Paparo said, adding that “it won’t be soon enough. There are finite limits to the magazine, and I have all the faith in the world that they’re being employed judiciously.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the panel’s ranking member, said that at current production rates, “reconstituting what we have expended could take years.”

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has depleted America’s global supply of munitions, with the Defense Department pulling such weapons from across the world to send to the Middle East.

But that has left commands in Europe and the Indo-Pacific less ready to potentially fight such adversaries as Russia and China.

The Defense Department, meanwhile, will not say how much it has spent or how many sophisticated missiles it has used since it began its war in Iran, only saying that it has hit more than 13,000 targets.

Officials told the Times that the figure obfuscates how many bombs and missiles have really been used, as forces typically strike large targets with multiple munitions.

Experts have placed the cost of the war at between $25 billion and $35 billion so far. The White House is expected to ask Congress for between $80 billion and $100 billion in part to replenish depleted stockpiles.

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