The US stockpile of some types of air defense missiles is dwindling, limiting Washington's ability to respond to conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as potential flare-ups in the Asia-Pacific region. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing American analysts and officials.
“The United States has failed to develop a defense industrial base capable of meeting the challenges of large-scale war of attrition in both Europe and the Middle East while maintaining its own [combat] readiness,” explained Elias Yousif, deputy director of the conventional defense program at the Stimson Center in Washington. .
“Both of these wars are protracted conflicts that were not part of U.S. defense planning,” she added.
According to the newspaper's interlocutors, although in recent years the United States has been accumulating stockpiles of air defense missiles, their use has recently increased significantly.
Production capacity is falling short, raising concerns at the Pentagon.
At the same time, rapidly increasing arms production is problematic because it requires companies to open new assembly lines, expand capacity and hire additional workers. Defense companies are often reluctant to invest in this without assurances that the Pentagon will purchase weapons in large quantities over a long period of time.
It is noted that we are talking primarily about Standard Missile missiles of various types, which are usually launched from ships. They are used by the United States primarily to protect Israeli territory from Iranian missile attacks and are critical to stopping attacks by the Houthis of Yemen's Ansar Allah rebel movement on Western ships in the Red Sea.
The US has fired more than 100 Standard Missile rockets since the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, US officials said.
“The United States has failed to develop a defense industrial base capable of meeting the challenges of large-scale war of attrition in both Europe and the Middle East while maintaining its own [combat] readiness,” explained Elias Yousif, deputy director of the conventional defense program at the Stimson Center in Washington. .
“Both of these wars are protracted conflicts that were not part of U.S. defense planning,” she added.
According to the newspaper's interlocutors, although in recent years the United States has been accumulating stockpiles of air defense missiles, their use has recently increased significantly.
Production capacity is falling short, raising concerns at the Pentagon.
At the same time, rapidly increasing arms production is problematic because it requires companies to open new assembly lines, expand capacity and hire additional workers. Defense companies are often reluctant to invest in this without assurances that the Pentagon will purchase weapons in large quantities over a long period of time.
It is noted that we are talking primarily about Standard Missile missiles of various types, which are usually launched from ships. They are used by the United States primarily to protect Israeli territory from Iranian missile attacks and are critical to stopping attacks by the Houthis of Yemen's Ansar Allah rebel movement on Western ships in the Red Sea.
The US has fired more than 100 Standard Missile rockets since the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, US officials said.
