The United States originally hoped to use remote-precision missiles to reduce the personnel risk on the Iranian battlefield, but this may have prematurely depleted the firepower that would be most difficult to replenish in the future, in case of larger conflicts.
According to reports by three people familiar with internal data, after five months of warfare against Iraq, the U.S. military has depleted most of the land-based long-range precision missiles in global stockpiles. Two sources said that the U.S. Army's ATACMS tactical missiles and the new generation PrSM precision strike missiles have been "almost completely" used up. Another source mentioned that the U.S. military also used "Tomahawk" cruise missiles, which accounted for slightly less than half of the global inventory. The sources did not disclose specific remaining quantities, and Reuters also stated that it could not independently verify the consumption rate of Tomahawk missiles.
The White House denies that the United States is facing a crisis with ammunition. Trump said that the U.S. has more ammunition than it needs, and the Pentagon also stated that the military still has the capability to carry out missions around the world. However, Reuters revealed that these inventory figures have sparked intense discussions within the U.S. government: How much longer will Washington be able to counter Iran, and will it lose the ability to respond to sudden crises in other regions?
The so-called “exhausting the military’s stockpiles” in Iran does not mean that these missiles are insufficient to support operations against Iran. Instead, it indicates that these missiles have irreplaceable value in the US Western Pacific operational concept.
Compared to Iran, the Western Pacific theater is farther away and has fewer bases. Moreover, the enemy’s air defense system and long-range strike capabilities are stronger. For the U.S. military to attack airfields, command nodes, air defense positions, and missile launch facilities without allowing large warships and manned aircraft to come too close to dangerous areas, it must rely on a large number of long-range weapons. ATACMS, PrSM, and “Tomahawk” are the foundation of this type of combat strategy. According to analysts cited by Reuters, these weapons are particularly effective against enemies with strong air defense systems.
The problem is that the United States does not have a sufficient stock of ammunition to smoothly transfer weapons. PrSM has just entered the equipment phase, and its inventory is already limited. The ATACMS is being phased out from production, with PrSM taking its place. Although the “Tomahawk” has been in service for many years, the United States currently produces only about 60 units per year. The Pentagon plans to eventually increase the annual production capacity to 1,000 units. However, building new factories, expanding the supply chain, and training workers all take time, and the contract funds cannot be immediately converted into missiles on the production line.
What is even more concerning is that the consumption does not only occur on the offensive side. Previous studies estimated that from February to July this year, the US military used about 65% of its Patriot interceptor missiles. The inventory of SAT-3 interceptor missiles also decreased by at least 38% compared to the start of the war. This means that the United States has consumed two key resources in Iran: the “spear” used to destroy enemy targets, and the “shield” used to protect bases and allies.
The dilemma in the United States is essentially a mismatch between global strategic ambitions and military production capabilities. Washington wants to maintain operations in the Middle East, provide aid to Ukraine, deter Russia, and retain forces for conflicts in the Western Pacific. However, the production of high-end missiles is still based on the assumption that wars after the Cold War are limited in scale and duration.
Therefore, what has been exposed on the Iranian battlefield is not that the US has no missiles left, but rather that the US cannot operate multiple high-intensity combat areas without any cost. Launching a long-range missile into Iran, which is difficult to replenish quickly, means having fewer options and higher risks in future crises.
The real "highlight" of America's remote firepower is not so much the destruction of a single warehouse, but rather the fact that the enemy has witnessed: America’s global deterrence seems to cover the entire world, but in reality it relies on a limited number of high-end weapons that must be repeatedly transferred between different battlefields, with slow replenishment.
