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This article talks about another fun indirect impact of the war with Iran: we are now reneging on deals to sell weapons systems to allies because we have depleted our own weapons stores so greatly that we need to keep the weapons systems for ourselves:
slate.com
Not sure if that is a gift link, so for those who can't read it, here is a fairly sobering passage about the extent to which we've depleted our own fighting capacity thanks to this pointless war in Iran:
Though the study was released a few days before news reports of Hegseth’s phone call to Estonia, it helps explain the secretary’s panic. A key example cited in the study is the Precision Strike Missile, the main munition of the HIMARS rocket system that Hegseth held back from delivery to our NATO ally. The U.S. military had 90 of these missiles before Trump started bombing Iran. During the five and a half weeks of war, it fired off 40 to 70 of them. (The study’s estimate is based on published sources; hence the imprecise range.) The study concludes it will take 46 months—nearly four years—for manufacturers to refill the U.S. inventory.
Similarly, the U.S. had 360 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems before the war started. In shooting down Iran’s ballistic missiles, U.S. service members fired off somewhere between 190 and 290—52 to 80 percent—of them. Rebuilding those stockpiles should take 53 months.
The military used between 1,060 and 1,430—between 45 and 61 percent—of its 2,330 Patriot air-defense missiles, which will take 42 months to replace.
In other, slightly less extreme cases, the military fired more than 1,000 of its 3,100 Tomahawk cruise missiles, more than 1,000 of its 4,400 armor-piercing Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, between 130 and 250 of its 410 SM-3 air-defense missiles, and between 190 and 370 of its 1,160 SM-6s. The Tomahawks will take 47 months to replace, the SM-6s will take 53 months, and the SM-3s will take 64 months.
The study notes that the situation is not quite as dire as the numbers make it seem. Some of these weapons can be replaced by far cheaper, slightly less capable systems that the U.S. possesses in large quantity. However, for a few of the weapons—the Patriots, THAADs, and SM missiles, which are adept at shooting down short-to-medium-range ballistic missiles—there are no good substitutes.
Hegseth Just Sent an Alarming Message to the Rest of the World
The defense secretary's recent phone call with a loyal U.S. ally has staggering implications.
Not sure if that is a gift link, so for those who can't read it, here is a fairly sobering passage about the extent to which we've depleted our own fighting capacity thanks to this pointless war in Iran:
Though the study was released a few days before news reports of Hegseth’s phone call to Estonia, it helps explain the secretary’s panic. A key example cited in the study is the Precision Strike Missile, the main munition of the HIMARS rocket system that Hegseth held back from delivery to our NATO ally. The U.S. military had 90 of these missiles before Trump started bombing Iran. During the five and a half weeks of war, it fired off 40 to 70 of them. (The study’s estimate is based on published sources; hence the imprecise range.) The study concludes it will take 46 months—nearly four years—for manufacturers to refill the U.S. inventory.
Similarly, the U.S. had 360 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems before the war started. In shooting down Iran’s ballistic missiles, U.S. service members fired off somewhere between 190 and 290—52 to 80 percent—of them. Rebuilding those stockpiles should take 53 months.
The military used between 1,060 and 1,430—between 45 and 61 percent—of its 2,330 Patriot air-defense missiles, which will take 42 months to replace.
In other, slightly less extreme cases, the military fired more than 1,000 of its 3,100 Tomahawk cruise missiles, more than 1,000 of its 4,400 armor-piercing Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, between 130 and 250 of its 410 SM-3 air-defense missiles, and between 190 and 370 of its 1,160 SM-6s. The Tomahawks will take 47 months to replace, the SM-6s will take 53 months, and the SM-3s will take 64 months.
The study notes that the situation is not quite as dire as the numbers make it seem. Some of these weapons can be replaced by far cheaper, slightly less capable systems that the U.S. possesses in large quantity. However, for a few of the weapons—the Patriots, THAADs, and SM missiles, which are adept at shooting down short-to-medium-range ballistic missiles—there are no good substitutes.
