Latest news with #missileinterceptors
Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
US faces $2 bln, year-long effort to replenish missile interceptors used to defend Israel
The US military will need more than a year to replenish the missile interceptors it deployed last month to help Israel defend against Iranian ballistic missile attacks, according to a new report. The cost to develop new interceptors for the two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries could approach $2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing US officials and defense analysts. US officials said over 150 missiles were launched in response to Iranian attacks. 'That is nearly a quarter of the interceptors ever purchased by the Pentagon,' according to the Journal. Other types of interceptors were also deployed to protect Israel, including 80 SM-3s. Over the past two years, the US military has also expended a substantial number of munitions countering Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. That campaign continued until the Trump administration launched an offensive operation targeting Houthi leadership and weapons infrastructure in Yemen. The effort consumed large quantities of US interceptor missiles, including SM-2, SM-3, and SM-6 variants. Estimates for each cost are as follows: $2.1 million for an SM-2, $3.9 million for an SM-6 and $9.7 million for each SM-3 Block IB or $28 million for SM-3 Block IIA. While Israel has its own multi-layered air defense system, supported in large part by the US, it was running low on interceptors, US officials told WSJ. And one US official reportedly said that if Iran had decided to continue lobbing missiles, drones and rockets at Israel, the latter could easily have burned through its Arrow 3 munitions. Israel uses the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems for intercepting medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, as well as David's Sling and Iron Dome for short-range rockets and projectiles. Separately, the US successfully defeated the 'largest single Patriot engagement in US military history' when Iran retaliated for the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites on the night of June 21 and lobbed a barrage of short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. In its strikes on Iran, the US dropped a total of 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), which are 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, and a US guided-missile submarine launched over two dozen Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Israel may run low on missile interceptors, putting US in a 'bind'
As Israel downs incoming volleys of Iranian missiles, a shortage of its missile interceptors could put both the United States and Israel in a bind. After a week of its aerial war with Iran, Israel's long-range Arrow interceptors are running low, the Wall Street Journal reported on June 18. In addition to Arrow interceptors, which are Israeli-made, Israel also has U.S.-made THAAD systems, which intercept medium-range ballistic missiles. If the United States chooses to replenish Israel's missile interceptors, it would mean drawing from other stockpiles, since Congress wouldn't have time to surge U.S. defense production of more, according to Brandan Buck, a research fellow at the Cato Institute. That could include siphoning off interceptors marked off for delivery to Ukraine, to Taiwan in a possible future conflict, or from the U.S.'s own national stock, Buck said. "If they truly do run out... that's going to put us in a position in which we have to make some serious decisions," Buck said. "It's going to put the U.S. and Israel in a bit of a bind," he added. The U.S. could also position some naval ships off the coast to "augment some of their capacity," according to Buck. The USS Nimitz, a massive aircraft carrier, is en route to the region and will arrive in less than a week, USA TODAY previously reported. It will join the USS Carl Vinson, which moved to the Middle East in April. When Iran launched a volley of ballistic missiles at Israel in October, the U.S. helped to intercept its attacks using interceptors fired from two other U.S. warships. The U.S. spends $3.4 billion to bolster Israel's missile defense every year, including $1.3 billion for its Iron Dome, according to the State Department. Israel keeps information about its missile interceptor stockpiles tightly under wraps. Its military said on June 16 that it had taken out a third of Iran's missile launchers. Israel says its missile defense success rate stands at greater than 90% against Iran's attacks in the ongoing aerial war. Still, some have evaded Israel's defenses, including the missile that struck a hospital in southern Israel on Thursday. It's also unclear exactly how many missiles Iran has left. The Pentagon estimated in 2021 that Iran just under 3,000 missiles of different ranges. Since Israel attacked Iran on June 12 through June 16, Iran had fired around 370 missiles, meaning thousands could remain. Israel's multilayered air defense system is designed to take down incoming missives from a variety of ranges. The Iron Dome intercepts missiles and rockets fired from a short range of up to around 45 miles, and David's Sling intercepts cruise missiles and rockets at a range of up to about 125 miles. The longer-range missiles fired by Iran are picked up by the Israeli-made Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems, which intercept ballistic missiles at a range of up to around 60 miles and 1,500 miles, respectively. In October, the United States sent Israel a THAAD system – capable of intercepting missiles inside and outside of the atmosphere – including American personnel to operate it. According to news reports, the United States sent a second THAAD to Israel in April, although the Pentagon has not publicly confirmed the transfer. The U.S. Army has just seven THAAD batteries in total – it will get an eighth later this summer. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Israel running out of interceptors to take down Iran's missiles?
