America has a weapon shortage due to war spending

Currently, with the war between the US and Israel and Iran in an unstable ceasefire, despite spending over eight hundred billion dollars annually on defense, the US faces a severe shortage of weapons, warships, and aircraft after a six-week Middle East war. Trump's Pentagon, in its second term, extensively used advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles, capable of striking targets a thousand miles away, to attack seven countries.

These missiles were used last March against Houthi rebels in Yemen, against Iran in a twelve-day war, and against ISIS militants in Nigeria in December, with reports of their use also in Syria and Venezuela. According to estimates from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, the US currently has only between 3,000 and 4,000 Tomahawk missiles remaining. The Washington Post reported that in the first month of the Iran war alone, the US used over 850 Tomahawk missiles worth approximately three billion dollars. However, the 2026 US defense budget has allocated funds for the purchase of only 57 new Tomahawk missiles. Tom Karako, director of the CSIS Missile Defense Project, points out that long-range missiles like the Tomahawk should be used to destroy China's air defense systems, not against countries like Iran.

The state of American air defense systems has suffered a similar setback. During bombing operations against Iran last summer, Iran launched a series of ballistic missile attacks on Israel. In response, the US deployed two 'Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense' or THAAD systems in Israel, where over 150 missiles, roughly a quarter of all missiles ever purchased by the Pentagon, were fired. Lockheed Martin, a defense contractor, previously produced only about 100 such missiles per year, each valued at nearly $13 million. A complete THAAD system is worth over a billion dollars. The US possesses only eight such systems worldwide, and due to damage to one of them from an Iranian attack in the current conflict, parts of a system deployed in South Korea against North Korea are currently being brought in. Tom Karako points out that the incapacitation of these small number of specialized systems could pose a significant risk in a potential conflict with China.

According to a 2023 war game conducted by CSIS, it was revealed that if a conflict with China over Taiwan were to occur, the US's main weapon stockpiles would be completely depleted within a month, with some missile types running out in as little as three to seven days. This situation existed even before the significant depletion of weapon stockpiles due to the Iran war. Republican Representative John Moolenaar stated that the American defense industry lacks the necessary resources to win a long-term war. Senator Mark Warner says that Chinese officials will be observing how Iran remains standing despite massive attacks by the US and Israel, which will raise questions for them about the US military's staying power. Jon Finer, who served as Biden's Deputy National Security Advisor, mentioned that the difficulties in supplying weapons to Ukraine were the most shocking thing he witnessed during his time in government.

(Based on The Washington Post)