Washington Post writer John Hudson reports the U.S. has “depleted much of its inventory of advanced missile-defense interceptors” after blowing far more high-end munitions protecting Israel than Israeli itself expended, per DOD assessments of Operation Epic Fury.
The US fired roughly half of the Pentagon’s total inventory Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors in defense of Israel, along with more than 100 SM-3 and SM-6 interceptors. Israel, by comparison, fired fewer than 100 of its Arrow and around 90 David Sling interceptors.
None of these items were cheap. And U.S. taxpayers are about to learn the strangely generous relationship the U.S. and Israel when they work together militarily.
“The numbers are striking,” said Stimson Center Senior Adjunct Fellow Kelly Grieco. “The U.S. absorbed most of the missile defense mission while Israel conserved its own magazines … Even if the operational logic was sound, the US is left with roughly 200 THAAD interceptors and a production line that can’t keep pace with demand.”
That bill “risks coming due” if the U.S. suddenly engages in military with additional hostile nations outside of Iran, she added.
Worse, if the U.S. and Israel resume hostilities in the coming days, as President Donald Trump keeps threatening, one U.S. official warned the U.S. military would likely expend an even greater share of interceptors because of a recent decision by the Israeli military to take some of its missile defense batteries offline for maintenance, said Hudson.
Hudson reports the Israeli embassy saying: “The U.S. has no other partner with the military willingness, readiness, shared interests, and capabilities of Israel.” But the Department of Defense reps denied any issues with burden sharing, telling the Washington Post that “Ballistic missile interceptors are just one tool in a vast network of systems and capabilities.”
And even now, the Post reports Israeli officials, particularly Netanyahu, are pressing U.S. taxpayers to reach deeper into their pockets and fund a restart of the war, even as American voters grow frustrated with Trump-era inflation and fuel prices.
“Israel is not capable of fighting and winning wars on its own, but nobody actually knows this, because they never see the back end,” a U.S. official told the Post.