Friday, February 27, 2026

Do The US, “Israel” Have Enough Interceptor Missiles To Launch A War On Iran?

By Al Ahed Staff

Do The US, “Israel” Have Enough Interceptor Missiles To Launch A War On Iran?

The Hebrew “Walla” website reported that it is uncertain whether Washington would be able to protect “Israel” and Taiwan at the same time, as its stockpile of interceptor missiles has not yet been fully replenished.

It further cautioned that increasing production will only yield significant results after several years.

Under the title, “The Gap Exposed” the report relied on alarming usage figures from last June, a sharp shortage of “bunker-buster” bombs, and what it described as a move designed to prevent Western collapse in the face of Iran and China.

According to the report, “Israel’s” stockpiles of Arrow missiles- designed to intercept potential Iranian ballistic missile attacks in the event of a US strike- are among the most sensitive security data.

The site revealed that “Israel” used a large number of Arrow missiles against two Iranian missile attacks in October 2024 and April 2025, as well as during the 12-day war in June.

In parallel, reports from the “Israeli” aggression indicated that, in some cases, the “Israeli” Air Force was prevented from intercepting Iranian missiles due to shortages in interceptor missile stocks.

Since then, the “Israeli” War Ministry has requested additional stockpiles worth billions of “shekels”, and the so-called “Israel” Aerospace Industries [IAI] announced it would streamline and accelerate production.

However, supplies are still in the process of being replenished.

The report added that “Israel” is not alone in facing the challenge of the “armaments economy”.

US reports unveiled that senior Pentagon officials said that one reason for preparing only a short-term campaign against Iran- lasting no more than a few days-stems from problems in US weapons stockpiles.

During the aggression against Iran in June 2025, batteries of the THAAD missile system deployed in “Israel” and across the Gulf- functionally equivalent to the Arrow system- launched more than 150 interceptor missiles in less than two weeks.

This represented roughly a quarter of all interceptors ever produced for that system.

In the same period, the US Navy launched about 80 SM-3 missiles- an expensive interceptor designed to destroy ballistic missiles in space and deployed on certain naval vessels.

The report stated that this rate of consumption created a strategic gap for the Pentagon.

Additionally, the US faces a limited stockpile of advanced Patriot missiles after four years of supplying them to Ukraine.

The Patriot system is considered vital for protecting US bases in Gulf states from short-range ballistic missile launches from Iran.

In response to this crisis, the Pentagon signed a series of massive contracts in early February 2026 that redefined the procurement process for interceptor missiles.

For example, production of Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptors is being increased from 620 annually to a capacity of 2,000 units per year.

THAAD production is expected to quadruple from 96 to 400 interceptors annually. Production of SM-3 missiles will rise from a few dozen to around 500 per year.

No comments:

Post a Comment