The US needs at least three years to restore its strategic missile arsenal after a conflict with Iran.
A report from CSIS warns that Iran's large-scale deployment of Tomahawk and Patriot missiles is creating a serious defense vulnerability for the U.S. in the Pacific region.
The challenge of restoring the US arms stockpile.
According to the latest report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), it will take US defense contractors at least three years to replenish reserves for three key weapons systems after their active use in a potential conflict with Iran. These systems include the Tomahawk cruise missile, along with anti-aircraft missiles for the Patriot and THAAD systems.
Strategic risks in the Western Pacific region
CSIS argues that while the U.S. military possesses sufficient ammunition for confrontation scenarios with Iran, the depletion of current stockpiles has inadvertently created a strategic vulnerability. This could significantly limit U.S. firepower and response capabilities in the event of a potential conflict in the Western Pacific region.
This analysis is based on the draft 2027 defense budget proposed by the Trump administration, totaling $1.5 trillion. The document highlights a significant increase in spending on high-tech weapons to maintain military advantage.
The bottlenecks are production capacity and time.
Despite receiving bipartisan funding support in Congress, the biggest obstacle currently facing the Pentagon is not money, but time. Expanding the capacity to produce and manufacture sophisticated missile systems requires complex engineering processes that take many years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said military spending under the new administration would allow contractors to double or even triple production capacity. However, analysts warn that the period of vulnerability will continue until stockpiles are restored to the safe levels required by military strategists.
