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>The U.S. Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran, according to three people familiar

>The U.S. Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran, according to three people familiar with the data, raising concerns about the military’s readiness for future conflicts. >The missiles are principally the Army’s surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The U.S. has used “virtually all” of these weapons, according to two of the sources. That quite a bit less of an issue than the headline implies.

Maxion 2mo ago
PrSM has been in production for only a short time, and ATACMS stocks were never high. Neither of these are the backbone of US long-range precision strike weapons. Article is misleading.
- renegade-otter 2mo ago
  It IS an issue if stand-off war is your only war, and it seems to be the exclusive approach here. If you run out of long-range precision weapons, what do you have left? Boots on the ground? That's not going to happen, and that means you will never win this on and off war.
  - laughing_man 2mo ago
    The USAF has a pretty substantial inventory of stand-off weapons, and an absolutely enormous inventory of guided bombs.
    - renegade-otter 2mo ago
      They do, but the current leadership does not have any appetite for entering Iran's airspace after the last downing drama. If Iran captures a pilot, there is going to be no more room for market manipulation.
      - theshrike79 2mo ago
        Where and who is the pilot who crashed btw?
        jitix 2mo ago
        It was big news a few months back. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2k1dgz142o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2k1dgz142o
        yencabulator 2mo ago
        I doubt the identity of the pilot & WSO will be released -- why would it -- at least not until they retire and write a book about it and out themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_F-15E_rescue_operation_in_Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_F-15E_rescu...
    - crote 2mo ago
      But those have to be carried in by planes, and the US doesn't have absolute control over the airspace yet, so that means risking crews. Is the general public willing to accept downed planes, captured crews, and botched rescue attempts as the new normal?
      - nixon_why69 2mo ago
        Specific detail, we don't and won't have enough control to do aerial refueling in range of Iran. Tankers aren't stealthy or fast, I'm not sure if they have any countermeasures at all. One can look at a map of strikes and draw the line on our range, the northeast half of the country is mostly untouched.
  - 762236 2mo ago
    They want this problem to be solved. So you spend the munitions, forcing the manufacturing problem to get fixed. This works in favor of Anduril, which cares about manufacturing scalability
- FuckButtons 2mo ago
  Never high and a significant number were donated to ukraine specifically because a ground launched pgm has never been a high priority for the US since the USAF exists.
  - greedo 2mo ago
    No PrSM were donated to Ukraine, and only a small number of legacy ATACMS were delivered. Under 200 from open sources...
varispeed 2mo ago
Two birds with one stone for benefit of Putin. Likely son of Ayatollah wanted to get rid of his weak father and Putin wanted the US to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine. So Putin asked Krasnov to get rid of Ayatollah and empty the stockpile of weapons. Trump always delivers for Russia.
- aqme28 2mo ago
  I don’t know if I am convinced. Russia also uses a lot of Iranian drones, which presumably are going to have supply troubles because of this war.
  - mrtesthah 2mo ago
    OTOH reducing the supply raises the price of oil and thereby allows Russia to charge more for their main product of export. At the start of the war Trump reduced Russian oil sanctions[1]. Trump is also collecting all the money from Venezuelan oil sales[2]. 1. https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/trump-eases-russian-oil-sanctions-iran-war-prices-ukraine-europe-rcna263310 https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/trump-eases-russian-oil... 2. https://newrepublic.com/post/213566/trump-hoarding-billions-venezuelan-oil https://newrepublic.com/post/213566/trump-hoarding-billions-...
  - weemonger 2mo ago
    AFAIK, Russia is building their own (improved/modifed) Shahed drones and no longer buy/import them from Iran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelabuga_drone_factory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelabuga_drone_factory
- yubblegum 2mo ago
  That is absurd. This war is being waged for the benefit of Israel. Even the pussyfooting of the on and off strikes is to force the Arabs to sign on the so called Abraham Accords. Once this misadventure is over, Israel goes to be the dominant power in the area, controlling the energy resources, with Arabs on the leash, US out of the area, and all potential regional rivals destroyed or neutered. note they are now shifting their aggressive propaganda against Turkey.
throw0101d 2mo ago
> That quite a bit less of an issue than the headline implies. Here's a point that I ran across: these long range missiles are there to take out air defences and such (along with stealth sorties), which allows you go go in with 'regular' ordinance and non-stealth aircraft—of which there is much higher quantities and availability—in later phases. In the early phases of the conflict you use stand-off munitions to reduce the chances of people being captured or killed. Because Trump doesn't really have approval for this escapade (from either Congress or public opinion) these 'fancy' munitions are the ones primary being used to reduce the risk of casualties. Now, trying to reduce casualties is not a bad thing per se, but the trade-off is that the fancy stuff is more expensive and takes longer to (re-)build-up. And what if there are other conflicts that flare up where these munitions would be useful? If they're not available do you start using piloted aircraft?
- FuckButtons 2mo ago
  You’re giving trump a lot of credit that you think he’s capable of thinking of second order effects of his actions.
  - Sabinus 2mo ago
    Well I was assured by his supporters that he was a smart and successful businessman and 'very stable genius' so I'm sure this won't end in economic disaster and national humiliation.
    - ocodo 2mo ago
      How could it possibly end in further national humiliation... as long as it's never acknowledged? I heard the commander in chief is not only acing cognitive tests and winning golf championships, left and right, due to TALENT. They also are completely vindicated of all accusations, the most powerful man in the history of the world and taken very seriously by some of the stupidest, weakest people to ever exist. When you have all that going for you and a comfortably filled diaper, what on earth could go wrong!?
- laughing_man 2mo ago

Maxion 2mo ago

PrSM has been in production for only a short time, and ATACMS stocks were never high. Neither of these are the backbone of US long-range precision strike weapons. Article is misleading.

renegade-otter 2mo ago
It IS an issue if stand-off war is your only war, and it seems to be the exclusive approach here. If you run out of long-range precision weapons, what do you have left? Boots on the ground? That's not going to happen, and that means you will never win this on and off war.
- laughing_man 2mo ago
  The USAF has a pretty substantial inventory of stand-off weapons, and an absolutely enormous inventory of guided bombs.
  - renegade-otter 2mo ago
    They do, but the current leadership does not have any appetite for entering Iran's airspace after the last downing drama. If Iran captures a pilot, there is going to be no more room for market manipulation.
    - theshrike79 2mo ago
      Where and who is the pilot who crashed btw?
      - jitix 2mo ago
        It was big news a few months back. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2k1dgz142o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2k1dgz142o
      - yencabulator 2mo ago
        I doubt the identity of the pilot & WSO will be released -- why would it -- at least not until they retire and write a book about it and out themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_F-15E_rescue_operation_in_Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_F-15E_rescu...
  - crote 2mo ago
    But those have to be carried in by planes, and the US doesn't have absolute control over the airspace yet, so that means risking crews. Is the general public willing to accept downed planes, captured crews, and botched rescue attempts as the new normal?
    - nixon_why69 2mo ago
      Specific detail, we don't and won't have enough control to do aerial refueling in range of Iran. Tankers aren't stealthy or fast, I'm not sure if they have any countermeasures at all. One can look at a map of strikes and draw the line on our range, the northeast half of the country is mostly untouched.
- 762236 2mo ago
  They want this problem to be solved. So you spend the munitions, forcing the manufacturing problem to get fixed. This works in favor of Anduril, which cares about manufacturing scalability
FuckButtons 2mo ago
Never high and a significant number were donated to ukraine specifically because a ground launched pgm has never been a high priority for the US since the USAF exists.
- greedo 2mo ago
  No PrSM were donated to Ukraine, and only a small number of legacy ATACMS were delivered. Under 200 from open sources...

varispeed 2mo ago

Two birds with one stone for benefit of Putin. Likely son of Ayatollah wanted to get rid of his weak father and Putin wanted the US to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine. So Putin asked Krasnov to get rid of Ayatollah and empty the stockpile of weapons. Trump always delivers for Russia.

aqme28 2mo ago
I don’t know if I am convinced. Russia also uses a lot of Iranian drones, which presumably are going to have supply troubles because of this war.
- mrtesthah 2mo ago
  OTOH reducing the supply raises the price of oil and thereby allows Russia to charge more for their main product of export. At the start of the war Trump reduced Russian oil sanctions[1]. Trump is also collecting all the money from Venezuelan oil sales[2]. 1. https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/trump-eases-russian-oil-sanctions-iran-war-prices-ukraine-europe-rcna263310 https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/trump-eases-russian-oil... 2. https://newrepublic.com/post/213566/trump-hoarding-billions-venezuelan-oil https://newrepublic.com/post/213566/trump-hoarding-billions-...
- weemonger 2mo ago
  AFAIK, Russia is building their own (improved/modifed) Shahed drones and no longer buy/import them from Iran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelabuga_drone_factory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelabuga_drone_factory
yubblegum 2mo ago
That is absurd. This war is being waged for the benefit of Israel. Even the pussyfooting of the on and off strikes is to force the Arabs to sign on the so called Abraham Accords. Once this misadventure is over, Israel goes to be the dominant power in the area, controlling the energy resources, with Arabs on the leash, US out of the area, and all potential regional rivals destroyed or neutered. note they are now shifting their aggressive propaganda against Turkey.

throw0101d 2mo ago

> That quite a bit less of an issue than the headline implies. Here's a point that I ran across: these long range missiles are there to take out air defences and such (along with stealth sorties), which allows you go go in with 'regular' ordinance and non-stealth aircraft—of which there is much higher quantities and availability—in later phases. In the early phases of the conflict you use stand-off munitions to reduce the chances of people being captured or killed. Because Trump doesn't really have approval for this escapade (from either Congress or public opinion) these 'fancy' munitions are the ones primary being used to reduce the risk of casualties. Now, trying to reduce casualties is not a bad thing per se, but the trade-off is that the fancy stuff is more expensive and takes longer to (re-)build-up. And what if there are other conflicts that flare up where these munitions would be useful? If they're not available do you start using piloted aircraft?

FuckButtons 2mo ago
You’re giving trump a lot of credit that you think he’s capable of thinking of second order effects of his actions.
- Sabinus 2mo ago
  Well I was assured by his supporters that he was a smart and successful businessman and 'very stable genius' so I'm sure this won't end in economic disaster and national humiliation.
  - ocodo 2mo ago
    How could it possibly end in further national humiliation... as long as it's never acknowledged? I heard the commander in chief is not only acing cognitive tests and winning golf championships, left and right, due to TALENT. They also are completely vindicated of all accusations, the most powerful man in the history of the world and taken very seriously by some of the stupidest, weakest people to ever exist. When you have all that going for you and a comfortably filled diaper, what on earth could go wrong!?
laughing_man 2mo ago