SAEDNEWS: The United States used around a quarter of its THAAD missiles during the June Israeli aggression against Iran and is left with a depleted arsenal of interceptors, a report says.
Citing two sources familiar with the matter, CNN reported on Sunday that during the 12-day assault, the US forces fired between 100 and 150 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense rockets, each of which costs roughly $12.7 million, against Iran’s retaliatory missiles.
The report said using so many missiles in such a short period “vastly outpaces production,” as the US manufactured just 11 THAAD interceptors last year and is expected to produce 12 this year.
Meanwhile, former American military officials and missile experts warned that the shortfall raises concerns about the United States' own security and its ability to replenish its supply of THAAD missiles.
“The reports about THAAD expenditure are concerning. This is not the sort of thing that the US can afford to continue to do on and on,” a missile expert said. “It was a major commitment to our Israeli ally, but missile defense interceptor capacity is definitely a concern, and THAAD is a very scarce resource.”
Mara Karlin, former US assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, said the government is currently grappling with the shortage of air defense systems.
“Air defense is relevant in all of the major theaters right now. And there’s not enough systems. There’s not enough interceptors. There’s not enough production and there are not enough people working on it,” she said.
“You have the challenge of something being both incredibly relevant and also there’s a dearth of them,” she added.
Ari Cicurel, Associate Director of Foreign Policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America think tank, estimated that it would take three to eight years to replenish the supply of THAAD missiles at the current production rates.
“After burning through a large portion of their available interceptors, the United States and Israel both face an urgent need to replenish stockpiles and sharply increase production rates,” he said.
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal warned of an “alarming gap” in the US missile arsenal, saying the stockpile fell significantly low during Washington’s operations aimed at protecting the occupying regime against Iran’s retaliation.
On June 13, Israel launched a blatant and unprovoked aggression against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that killed at least 1,064 people in the country, including military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.
The United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of international law.
In response, the Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across the occupied territories as well as the al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia.
On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations against both the Israeli regime and the US, managed to impose a halt to the illegal aggression.
