The Wall Street Journal
Pentagon Runs Low on Air-Defense Missiles as Demand Surges
Large number of interceptors used to strike missiles, drones in Middle East raises concerns about U.S. military readiness in Pacific
WASHINGTON—The U.S. is running low on some types of air-defense missiles, raising questions about the Pentagon’s readiness to respond to the continuing wars in the Middle East and Europe and a potential conflict in the Pacific.
Interceptors are fast becoming the most sought-after ordnance during the widening crisis in the Middle East, as Israel and other U.S. allies face an increasing threat from missiles and drones fired by Iran and the militias it supports. The shortfall could become even more urgent after Israel’s Friday night strikes on Iran, which U.S. officials fear might spark another wave of attacks by Tehran.
Standard Missiles, which are usually ship-launched and come in various types, are among the most common interceptors the U.S. has used to defend Israeli territory from Iranian missile attacks, and are critical for stopping Houthi attacks on Western ships in the Red Sea. The U.S. has launched more than 100 Standard Missiles since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, the U.S. officials said.
The Defense Department says it doesn’t publicly disclose its stockpiles because the information is classified and could be leveraged by Iran and its proxies.
“Over the course of the last year, the Department of Defense has augmented our force posture in the region to protect U.S. forces and support the defense of Israel, while always taking into account U.S. readiness and stockpiles,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.
The heavy use of the Pentagon’s limited stockpile of missile interceptors is raising concerns about the ability of the U.S. and its allies to keep pace with unexpected, high demand created by the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. The Pentagon worries it could run through its inventory faster than it can replace them, leaving the U.S. vulnerable in a potential conflict in the Pacific, analysts and officials said.
“The U.S. has not developed a defense industrial base intended for a large-scale war of attrition in both Europe and the Middle East, while meeting its own readiness standards,” said Elias Yousif, a fellow and deputy director of the Conventional Defense Program at the Stimson Center in Washington. “And both of those wars are extended conflicts, which was not part of the U.S. defense planning.”
Increasing production of weapons has proved difficult for the Pentagon, since it often requires that companies open new production lines, expand facilities and hire additional workers. Companies are often reluctant to invest in that expansion without knowing that the Pentagon is committing to buying at increased levels over the long term.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told lawmakers in May testimony that he was pressing industry to increase production of Standard Missiles because the U.S. had deployed so many interceptors in the Middle East. There are “some increases” in two variants of Standard Missiles, he said, but acknowledged the difficulty of ramping up production.
“The more sophisticated the missile, the harder it is to produce them,” he said.
The concerns over a shortage of interceptors have prompted senior Pentagon officials, including Del Toro, and Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, to look at alternate technology, including drawing on newer companies to help increase production of new types of air-defense missiles.
The U.S. had built up interceptor stocks over recent years, but the U.S. in any one month of the conflict in the Middle East has launched dozens of missiles, and production capacity can’t keep up, according to analysts and defense officials.
RTX, producer of the Standard Missiles, can make a maximum of a few hundred a year, a U.S. defense official said. That production, however, isn’t all for the Pentagon, since at least 14 allies also buy Standard Missiles, according to RTX.
The company declined to comment on its production capacity, but RTX spokesman Chris Johnson said, “We work closely with the Department of Defense to meet their production needs for Standard Missiles.”
Since the war between Hamas and Israel began last year, U.S. ships have launched more than $1.8 billion worth of interceptors to stop Iran and its proxies from attacking Israel and ships traveling through the Red Sea, according to the Navy.
The Navy often launches two interceptors for every one missile when responding to attacks, essentially as an insurance policy to ensure the target is hit. A single Standard Missile can cost millions of dollars, making it an expensive way to defend against Iranian-made weapons, which cost much less.
“Those are really expensive munitions to shoot down crappy Houthi targets,” one congressional official said, “and every one they expend takes months to replace—and at high, high cost.”
The U.S. launched a dozen Standard Missiles during Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attack on Israel, in addition to employing other air-defense systems, but American and Israeli forces let through some of the 180 Iranian missiles that they knew wouldn’t strike valuable sites to preserve its stock of interceptors, U.S. officials said.
Earlier this month, in the run-up to Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran, the Pentagon deployed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad system, to Israel, a move that allows the U.S. to use interceptors other than Standard Missiles to bolster Israel’s defenses. The Pentagon has also moved additional Patriot missile-defense systems to the Middle East, which required shuffling around the limited number of batteries it has in inventory to also meet the demand in Ukraine.
Pentagon officials said the plan is to maintain the current overall production levels of the Standard Missiles, though there will be cuts to some of the older variants to fund newer ones.
The heavy use of weapons such as interceptors in the Middle East is also putting at risk the Pentagon’s ability to fight in the Pacific, said Mark Montgomery, a retired rear admiral and now a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative think tank in Washington.
“We’re spending a year’s worth of Standard Missiles—those are standard missiles that are supposed to be part of rearming ourselves for China,” he said. “So, 100%, we have, once again in the Middle East, set back Navy readiness to execute operations in the Pacific.”
Israel’s
military has some of the most advanced air defense systems in the world
in its arsenal. Here’s how the U.S.-deployed Thaad will bolster it even
further. Photo: U.S. Department of Defense
Write to Nancy A. Youssef at nancy.youssef@wsj.com and Gordon Lubold at gordon.lubold@wsj.com