Foreign media reported that the U.S. Department of Defense is moving some of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems deployed in Korea to the Middle East.
On the 9th (local time), the Washington Post (WP) reported this, citing two Department of Defense officials, and said U.S. forces rapidly depleted advanced weapons as they poured $5.6 billion (about 8 trillion won) worth of munitions into the first two days of airstrikes against Iran.
According to the WP, the officials said, "Military authorities are also drawing on Patriot interceptor missile stockpiles deployed in the Indo-Pacific and other regions to bolster the defense posture against Iran's drone and ballistic missile attacks." THAAD and Patriot are classified as core missile defense systems of U.S. Forces Korea.
Earlier, after large U.S. military transport aircraft identified at Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province were found to have left Korea one after another recently, there was speculation that U.S. Forces Korea's air defense assets may have been reassigned to the Middle East.