A four million dollar bullet

The newest Patriot kills an incoming ballistic missile by slamming into it, no warhead needed. Each interceptor costs about $4 million.

“It's going to vaporize pretty much whatever it hits.”

Building 750, firing 1,500

Lockheed Martin turns out roughly 750 Patriots a year. The war against Iran has burned through an estimated 1,500 of them.

Twenty five billion, spent

Mark Cancian of CSIS priced the Patriot, Tomahawk, THAAD, PrSM and three other key munitions fired at Iran. The bill so far is around $25 billion.

Ukraine was the warning

Both parties let the high-end weapons shortage slide for years. It only registered after the U.S. started arming Ukraine in 2022 and saw how thin the shelves were.

“The war in Ukraine was the wake-up call.”

Thirteen thousand targets

By April 8, the Joint Force had struck more than 13,000 targets in Iran. Every enemy ballistic missile launched has to be answered with an expensive interceptor.

“If they fire a ballistic missile, we have to use one of our high-end systems to defend.”

Iran yes, China no

Cancian says the U.S. has enough to finish this war. A fight with China is a different math problem, and the trouble starts in month two.

“We might be able to provide enough munitions for a month, but getting on to month two or month three or four, that's a great challenge.”

The Pentagon denies it

Officials say talk of shortages is false and only encourages attacks on American troops. Meanwhile Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pushing industry onto a wartime footing.

“Claims of U.S. munition shortages are false.”

All of them

A Patriot takes six weeks to assemble but two years to source its 4,000 parts, drawn from 500 to 1,000 suppliers. Many parts have exactly one qualified maker.

“Our joke is, 'How many parts does it take to build a missile?' And the answer is, 'All of them.'”

Rocket fuel, baked slowly

L3Harris makes the Patriot's motors five miles away, curing the propellant in ovens like pottery in a kiln. A more automated plant is still 16 months from opening.

“That cure time in the oven can take from days to weeks.”

Cheap missiles, by the thousand

CoAspire builds an air-launched cruise missile for a couple hundred thousand dollars, with 200 parts and a hobbyist engine. The Pentagon wants 10,000 low-cost missiles.

“We're trying to build these in high quantities, knowing that they're not as exquisite.”

Years to refill the shelves

Getting back to pre-war stock takes one to five years depending on the weapon. Reaching the level war planners actually want for China takes several years beyond that.

“It's about one to five years, depending on the munition.”