The United States is running out of some types of air-defense missiles after using more than 100 during Israel’s war on Gaza in the last year, a new report from theWall Street Journal reveals.
US officials have launched more than 100 Standard Missiles since Hamas carried out the October 7 attack on Israel, according to the Journal. The US has also used these weapons to defend Israel from Iranian attacks and against Houthis in the Red Sea.
Now, with high demand created by the conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s war in Ukraine, defense officials and analysts alike are concerned the US will make itself vulnerable by going through missiles quicker than they can be replaced, the Journal reports.
“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,” Elias Yousif, deputy director of the Conventional Defense Program at the Stimson Center, told the Journal.
“And both of those wars are extended conflicts, which was not part of the U.S. defense planning,” Yousif added.
However, the Department of Defense told the Journal they can’t disclose exactly how many missiles are left, due to security concerns.
“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,” Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, told the Journal.
Going forward, Pentagon officials said they have no plans to increase current overall production levels of Standard Missiles, though there will be cuts to some older variants to fund newer ones, per the Post.
Meanwhile, the US is urging Israeli officials to rethink their decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which could have severe humanitarian consequences for more than three million people living in Gaza who rely on their services.
Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and the United Kingdom have already condemned the decision.
Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage, the Israeli Defense Forces’s retaliatory attacks in Gaza have killed more than 43,000 people and displaced more than 90 percent of the territory’s population.
