WASHINGTON (AP) — Recent fighting with Iran used up more of the U.S. military’s already diminished stockpiles of advanced missile interceptors, potentially putting American troops at more risk if hostilities resume, a new analysis says.Shrunken inventories of Patriot and THAAD interceptors may force the U.S. and its Middle Eastern allies to take more risks to conserve those air defenses, according to the analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. For example, it said, American forces may launch fewer missiles against incoming Iranian drones and missiles, raising the chance of one getting through. “That percentage may not go up a lot, but it goes up a little,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and now senior adviser at CSIS who co-authored Monday’s report with research associate Chris H. Park.
The nation’s advanced weapons stockpiles have become a flashpoint in the five-month-long conflict, along with the threat to the lives of American service members, heightened gasoline prices and increasing costs to taxpayers. The war has been unpopular with many Americans and is posing political problems for President Donald Trump and Republicans ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections.
