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The United States has warned allies that deliveries of some key missiles and air defense weapons could be delayed by as much as five years as the military rebuilds stocks depleted during the war with Iran, Bloomberg reported om September 18.
The warning highlights how the consequences of the conflict are moving beyond U.S. forces, with Ukraine already struggling to obtain Patriot interceptors and Saudi Arabia now seeking foreign help to defend itself against attacks from the Houthis.
Bloomberg reported that several European countries have been told to expect delays in weapons deliveries after the U.S. expended large quantities of munitions during the six-month conflict.
Germany, which is seeking long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and ground-based Typhon launchers, has asked Washington to accelerate deliveries. The report said Raytheon is unlikely to fulfill Germany’s order within the next five years because of depleted U.S. inventories and limited production capacity.
The delays come as the scale of the U.S. drawdown becomes clearer. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said September 15 that combat operations against Iran had cost the Defense Department about $38 billion through August 1, including the cost of replacing expended munitions.
CBO estimated that replacing the weapons used in the war would cost about $21.7 billion, including $13.1 billion for missile-defense interceptors. It also concluded that rebuilding inventories of some interceptors could take at least five years even with increased production.
The shortage is already having a direct effect on Ukraine, where Patriot interceptors have become one of the most important and scarce weapons in the country’s air defense network.
The U.S. has supplied Ukraine with hundreds of Patriots since Russia’s special military operation, but the flow has become harder to sustain as Washington prioritizes its own depleted inventory and missile-defense requirements in the Middle East.
AP reported in August that the U.S. military’s Patriot stocks in Europe had fallen to critically low levels, while Ukrainian officials continued asking for additional interceptors.
The consequences have become more visible in recent Russian attacks. Reuters reported September 18 that Ukraine has virtually exhausted its stocks of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors, the only system in its arsenal capable of reliably countering Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Europe is facing a related problem. AP reported that American and NATO Patriot inventories in Europe have been severely reduced, in part because missiles were moved to the Middle East during the Iran war and because previous U.S. deliveries to Ukraine had already drawn down stocks.
European alternatives remain limited for intercepting advanced ballistic missiles, with France and Italy’s SAMP/T NG still moving toward wider deployment and lacking the combat record of Patriot.
Saudi Arabia recently become the newest and more immediate example of the shortage’s regional effects. According to an AP report published September 16, Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors while fighting with the Houthis and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to provide air-defense support.
One regional official told the news agency that the outreach was prompted by the depletion of U.S. interceptor stocks during the Iran war.
That shortage comes at a difficult moment for Riyadh. The Houthis have been striking Saudi targets and shipping in the Red Sea, while Saudi Arabia is also trying to protect military installations, government facilities and oil infrastructure.
The United States and its allies are trying to close the gap by expanding production, but manufacturing cannot immediately replace missiles consumed in combat.
Lockheed Martin has said its annual production capacity for PAC-3 MSE Patriot interceptors will rise from about 600 to 2,000 under a seven-year agreement with the U.S. government. New production facilities and expanded supply chains are also being developed in Europe and the United States.
For Ukraine and Saudi Arabia, however, the problem is immediate. Ukraine faces another winter of Russian missile attacks while waiting for additional Patriots, and Saudi Arabia is confronting a renewed missile and drone campaign while its principal arms supplier has less capacity to replace interceptors already fired.
The Bloomberg report underscores that the effects of the Iran war are no longer confined to the U.S. stockpile. They are increasingly shaping when American weapons can reach the countries that depend on them.
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