Reports said the United States exhausted about $5.6 billion worth of munitions just two days after launching military operations against Iran. With expensive precision weapons deployed in large numbers from the outset, concerns are mounting that the U.S. stockpile of advanced arms is rapidly shrinking.
On the 9th (local time), the Washington Post (WP), citing a government official, reported that the Pentagon used $5.6 billion (about 8.2656 trillion won) worth of munitions in the two days immediately following the airstrikes on Iran and that this estimate was reported to Congress that day. The Donald Trump administration had dismissed congressional concerns that operations against Iran could weaken U.S. military readiness, but with specific ammunition expenditure figures made public, the controversy is reigniting.
Tomahawk cruise missiles and advanced air-defense interceptors, deployed in large numbers immediately after the start of military action, are being cited as the reason for the heavy drawdown. Earlier, U.S. Central Command, which oversees and directs the campaign against Iran, said it has used more than 2,000 munitions so far, striking more than 5,000 targets inside Iran.
Mark Cancian, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), analyzed that "if laser-guided bombs are used, the expense per strike would drop dramatically from several million dollars to below $100,000."
As weapons are being consumed quickly, the U.S. military is concentrating defensive assets from other regions into the Middle East. The Pentagon is moving some Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) equipment deployed in Korea to the Middle East, and Patriot interceptors stationed in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere are also being fed into the Middle East's defensive grid to prepare for Iranian strikes.
The problem is that it is impossible to predict how long the conflict will last. President Trump previously said "the operation could continue for more than a month," but in a CBS interview that day abruptly said "Iran suffered major military losses" and "I think the war is in its final phase," signaling a shift. However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on the 8th that "(the war is) only the beginning," offering a conflicting view.
Warnings also surfaced within the U.S. military that precision weapon stockpiles could deplete quickly in a protracted war. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine reported to President Trump just before the operation that "if a long war with Iran breaks out, the precision weapon inventory—already reduced by support for the Russia-Ukraine war and more than seven overseas military operations—could fall below required reserves," but the administration has publicly played down the concern, critics said.
Government officials emphasize that the redeployment of advanced U.S. weapons is not due to an immediate shortage, but a preemptive measure to prepare for the possibility that Iran's retaliation could intensify rapidly. Chief Spokesperson Shawn Parnell of the Pentagon denied concerns about shortages, saying, "The Pentagon has everything needed to carry out any mission at a time and place of the president's choosing."
Iran has, in fact, expressed its intent to extend missile range further. According to Iranian state TV, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared it would increase the power and frequency of missile launches and extend their range, and IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Majid Mousavi took a hard-line stance, saying, "From now on, no missile with a warhead under 1 ton will be launched."
Assessments are emerging that Iran's ability to strike back is stronger than earlier projections. Dara Massicot of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a U.S. think tank, noted, "Iran is striking key military facilities such as early warning radars with great precision and is concentrating on command-and-control sites." In addition, with reports that Russia is providing Iran with location information on U.S. military assets deployed in the Middle East, analysts say Iran's forces have gained powerful momentum.
In response, the United States appears set to shift strategy to prepare for a prolonged war. The Pentagon said that as Iran's air defenses weaken in the coming period, it will continue airstrikes centered on relatively inexpensive weapons such as laser-guided bombs, instead of the costly precision-guided munitions used in the initial strikes. Earlier, the U.S. military deployed LUCAS, an expendable attack drone, which was redesigned from Iran's "Shahed (Persian for 'witness')-136" and is estimated to cost about $35,000 (about 52 million won) to produce. These drones are known to be slow and fly at low altitude, making them harder for air-defense systems to detect.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is expected to request additional defense funding from Congress as early as this week to sustain operations. The amount is expected to range from several billion dollars to as much as tens of billions, but with Democrats moving to rein in an expansion of military action, the approval process is expected to face significant turbulence.