Congress: Replenishing US Interceptor Missile Stockpile Will Take Five Years

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that rebuilding the country’s interceptor missile stockpile could take at least five years, even with increased production. It warned that depleted Patriot, THAAD, SM-3 and SM-6 missiles could limit Washington’s capabilities if a military confrontation with China broke out.

Additional funding for Middle East operations

The office said the US administration had requested an additional $87.6 billion in funding for Middle East operations and other purposes, including $67.1 billion for the Defense Department. It estimated that about $42.3 billion of the total request was directly related to the war with Iran.

According to the office’s estimates, continuing the confrontation at a low level could cost the Defense Department about $2 billion more per month, while the monthly cost could rise to about $3 billion if fighting escalated.

Cost of Replacing Munitions and Flight Hours

The office estimated that replacing the munitions used by US forces in the confrontation with Iran would cost about $21.7 billion, including $13.1 billion to replace air-defense interceptor missiles used against Iranian attacks. It put the cost of replacing offensive cruise missiles at about $7.3 billion, and the cost of additional military flight hours at about $10.4 billion.

The report said replacing equipment lost in the fighting could cost the Defense Department about $1.9 billion, adding that Iran had destroyed a radar belonging to a THAAD system estimated to cost about $500 million. In a separate estimate, a report by the Pentagon inspector general’s office said there were shortages of munitions and bottlenecks in supply chains.

The report said the damage included the destruction of or damage to four F-15E fighter jets, an F-35A fighter jet and an A-10 attack aircraft, along with 12 refueling aircraft and nine other aircraft. It added that more than 30 MQ-9 drones had been destroyed by June.