Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 05/29/2026 5:57:45 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The U.S. missile stockpiles crisis is becoming a growing national security concern as American defense systems are being consumed faster than manufacturers can replace them. A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies revealed that the United States fired more than 1,000 Patriot interceptors during the war in Iran, while only 172 replacements have been manufactured so far. The widening gap between missile usage and production is raising alarm inside Washington because critical defense systems including Patriot and THAAD are now under extraordinary pressure.
The missile stockpiles shortage is also affecting key U.S. allies that rely heavily on American defense technology for survival. Ukraine has urgently requested additional Patriot interceptors after Russia intensified missile attacks on Kyiv using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Patriot systems remain one of the few reliable tools capable of intercepting advanced Russian ballistic strikes.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.economictimes.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
The bottlenecks right now are secure computer chips and rare earths. Raytheon has said they could turn out hundreds a month at existing facilities, but they don’t have the resources. That’s been echoed by all the other missile manufacturers.
Really wishing we hadn’t cancelled M-THEL when we did and had continued development instead of having to start over more than a decade later and only having prototypes and early production models of antimissile lasers by now.
I don’t care about Ukraine or Taiwan. Weaponry and defense is their own problem. I do care about these being available to protect America first.
No American cares about Ukraine or Taiwan.
More GOP Nonsense.
Muh Midterms.
Come on guys. Get your sh*t together. Focus.
Repeat after me.
Muh Midterms.
Muh Midterms.😂😂😂😂
Kinda hard to produce weapons when China will not SELL US the materials and piece-parts needed, and this is true regardless of how much flag-waving we do.
Yeah we’re getting hollowed out but if you say anything about it you get called an anti-semite or a putinista
We’ve got a stockpile of nukes... we’re good!!
What’s wrong with good old iron bombs? We can make a bunch of those in a short time.
Secretary Hegseth just needs to call Raytheon and order more. They’ll be glad to manufacture them!
I dont care about Ukraine. European weenies should be taking care of that
Taiwan on the other hand produces more than 60% of world semiconductors so, for me, America and the world Taiwan is kind of a big deal.
everyone’s mileage differs
“I don’t care about Ukraine or Taiwan. Weaponry and defense is their own problem. I do care about these being available to protect America first.”
I agree 100%.
“172 replacements have been manufactured so far”
The pipline is being built now to increase the production rate. We will get near 600 built this year with increased production in following years.
Patriot production is supposed to be increased to 2000 pa in the future.
But 2025 total production was only 620.
The US retains operational stocks and has prioritized domestic replenishment. It's not “out” of missiles but operating with thinner margins.
Production is scaling (contracts, new facilities), and budgets have increased post-Ukraine/Iran lessons.
Exact classified numbers vary; CSIS uses open-source/estimated figures. “Fired 1,000” refers to the Iran campaign specifically, on top of prior drawdowns.
Allies (Europe, Gulf states) are also competing for limited supply, increasing global pressure.
Bottom line: The statistic is accurate per recent CSIS-linked reporting, and the vulnerability assessment until ~2029 is a reasonable expert consensus. This highlights long-standing US defense industrial base issues exposed by sustained high-tempo operations.
What materials and piece parts?
This strikes me as national security information.
Lockheed generally pushed out 550 units a year, bumped it to 650, and are working (building an entirely new building in Grand Prairie) to bump up to 2000 a year. These missiles are over 17 feet long, 700 lbs. They aren’t little things you can easily just triple production on.
The American military is the most powerful ever assembled, right up until it runs out of ammunition.
Keeping only 3000 missiles in stock is an absolute abomination.
As long as we took care of israels needs its all good. /sarc
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.