The United States will need at least three years to restore an array of critical weapons systems to prewar levels following its 38-day bombing campaign against Iran, according to the Center for Strategic International Studies.<\/p>\n
The new analysis,<\/a> released on Wednesday, warned that depleted inventories have \u201ccreated a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict. The time needed to rebuild those inventories has thus become a major concern.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the authors acknowledged that the U.S. \u201chas enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Central Command said more than 12,000 targets were hit during Operation Epic Fury, which CSIS found significantly drew down America\u2019s stockpiles of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM), as well as two vital interceptors: the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and the Patriot. <\/p>\n The think tank, a bipartisan policy research organization, estimates that more than 1,000 Tomahawk missiles were launched, far exceeding the average annual procurement of 86 over the past decade \u2013 and that replenishment could take until 2030 or 2031. It also determined that up to 290 THAAD interceptors were used, with those reserves returning to prior levels only by mid-to-late 2029. <\/p>\n The Pentagon has not publicly disclosed the scale of munitions expended before a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran took effect April 7, citing operational security. But Jules Hurst III, the Defense Department\u2019s acting comptroller, told lawmakers earlier this month that the conflict had cost roughly $29 billion,<\/a> with additional expenditures still expected.<\/p>\n The authors of the report argue that today\u2019s challenge \u201cisn\u2019t money; it\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes time to expand production capacity and to build these complex systems. Thus, there will be a window of vulnerability for several years until inventories return to their previous levels and another several years before they get to the levels that war planners desire,\u201d they wrote. <\/p>\n \u201cChina is deeply aware that it has no recent combat experience and that it performed poorly in its last war\u2014against Vietnam in 1979,” the analysis continued. \u201cThat difference in experience may preserve deterrence until munitions inventories are restored.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to Military Times, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly asserted that the U.S. military \u201chas more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump\u2019s strategic goals and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven still, the president has urged our defense contractors to constantly produce more made-in-America weapons, which are the best in the world. Democrats destroyed our military, but President Trump rebuilt it. Think tank armchair quarterbacks are not read into sensitive information and have no idea what they\u2019re talking about,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n