The US used up a quarter of its supply of high-end THAAD missile interceptors during the 12-day war with Iran in June, CNN reported on Monday, citing two sources familiar with the operation.
According to the report, U.S. forces defended Israel against the Iranian barrage of ballistic missiles by firing over 100 THAADS (short for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), a significant amount of the U.S.’s stockpile. The US has seven THAAD systems, and two were used in the war.
The large amount of THAAD receptors used in such a short period “exposed a gap in the US missile defense network,” the report said.
Former US defense officials and missile experts told CNN that the rapid depletion has brought up concerns about “America’s global security posture and ability to regenerate supplies at speed.”
The US produced only 11 new THAAD interceptors last year and is expected to receive just 12 more in this fiscal year. However, according to the 2026 Department of Defense budget, it plans to acquire 37 THAAD interceptors next year.
Nevertheless, CNN quoted experts who warn that supplies need to be further increased.
“It is important to recognize the level of commitment and the level of expenditure here in defense of Israel is significant,” said a missile defense expert who has been tracking the US government’s expenditure.
“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,” he added. “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.”
A senior retired US army officer who asked not to be named said around 25% of THAAD’s total inventory was used by US forces in Israel participating in the war effort. “The (Department of Defense) is looking at wartime stockage levels of critical munitions and attempting to significantly increase annual production capacity, an effort that is long overdue,” the source said.
Concerns about the US interceptor stockpile preceded the Israel-Iran conflict, four former senior US defense officials told CNN, especially stockpiles of high-end interceptors intended to be used as deterrence against China.
“What I can say without giving any numbers is I was surprised at how low some of the levels of readiness were,” said one former defense official who left his post in the last year.
“Stockpiles are dropping. We need more. We need them faster than they are being built,” said the same ex-official.
“This is a concern. It was a concern during the Biden administration. I’m sure it’s a concern now during the Trump administration,” one former senior Biden defense official said.
“Air defense is relevant in all of the major theaters right now. And there are not enough systems. There are not enough interceptors. There’s not enough production, and there are not enough people working on it,” said Mara Karlin, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities under Biden.
“You have the challenge of something being both incredibly relevant and also there’s a dearth of them,” she added.
The report quoted an analysis by the DC-based think tank Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), which estimated that the US’s THAAD system intercepted about half of all interceptions during the war, an indication that Israel did not have a sufficient stockpile of Arrow interceptors.
“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,” Ari Cicurel, author of the report, wrote, estimating that it would take three to eight years to replenish at current production rates.
Missile defense analysts say they saw clear signs of Israel’s air defense depletion. “The presence of the THAAD battery in the first place suggests that the Israelis don’t have a super deep interceptor magazine,” said Sam Lair, research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
Timur Kadyshev, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, said, “The 12-day war in June of this year essentially saw the first significant expenditure of THAAD interceptors. Israel was relatively successful in defending (with US assistance) against unsophisticated Iranian missiles—at the cost of depleting available arsenals of interceptors.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
One Response
“the emperor has no clothes.” if secondary participation in a low-level conflict like the war with iran could significantly deplete stocks of one of america’s most important systems, where does that leave america? iran had an estimated arsenal of *thousands* of ballistic missiles, and america had fewer than 500 thaad interceptors on hand? america, and therefore its allies in nato, ukraine and israel, is overly reliant on over-priced magic bullets.