The United States is burning through its stocks of precision missiles so quickly, they may have to become selective of Iranian targets in just days, according to reports.
Operation Epic Fury has hit more than 2,000 targets so far, but commanders fear they won’t be able to last the ‘four to five week’ timeframe for the war that Donald Trump demands, according to The Washington Post.
The Pentagon have moved to quell fears they could run out of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors — considered the world’s premier missile defense systems — and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
‘We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense,’ said General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, without offering specifics or numbers.
Another official told the Post, that inventories were so thin that a lengthy campaign against Iran wouldn’t leave enough munitions for other threats, like China.
Trump posted on social media that the U.S. inventories of ‘medium and upper medium grade’ munitions are ‘virtually unlimited’ and could sustain the pace of attacks in Iran indefinitely.
He also wrote that weapons at ‘the highest end are in good supply, but are not where we want to be.’
The chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the number of ballistic missiles fired by Iran is also down by 86% from Saturday, with a 23% drop in missiles fired in the last 24 hours.
‘And their one-way-attack drone shots are down 73% from the opening days,’ Caine said.
But some experts have said Iran may be holding some weapons in reserve to prolong the conflict.
Footage from Iranian state media gives a rare glimpse of a fortified underground complex – called ‘Missile City’ – one of the largest such facilities in the Islamic Republic.
A massive arsenal of drones, with a wall-to-wall hanging depicting the now-dead Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, can be seen with the sound of a ticking clock in the background.
The tunnels are lined with thousands of precision-guided missiles, state media claimed.
KheibarShekan (900-mile range), Haj Qassem (850-mile range), Ghadr H, (1,240-mile range), Sejjil (1,550-mile range), and Emad (1,050-mile range) are believed to be housed there.
What are Tomahawk missiles?
Whether the US will send Ukraine long-range missiles has long been up for debate, with Zelensky pleading for weapons that can strike deep into Russian territory.
The Tomahawk was developed in the 1970s for the US Navy before being tweaked into air- and ground-launched versions for the Air Force and Army.
There are many types of Tomahawk, but they can generally reach targets about 1,500 miles away.
Tomahawks, which easily cost $2,000,000, can carry a warhead with the explosive power of 180kg of TNT or a thermonuclear device.
These monster cruise missiles differ from high-flying ballistic missiles, having tiny wings that allow them to fly horizontally low to the ground.
They even have small jet engines to reach distances five times farther than the ATACMS, pronounced ‘attack ’ems’, an American ballistic missile.
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