The US military has ordered that a majority of its inventory of stealthy JASSM-ER cruise missiles be pulled from its Pacific stockpile and committed to its military campaign against Iran.
After the $1.5 million worth of weapons are moved, only about 425 of the missiles would be available out of the 2,300 for the rest of the globe, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
About 75 or so of the missiles are unserviceable due to damage or technical faults.
The JASSM-ER or Joint Air-to-Surface Missile Extended Range can fly more than 600 miles and was designed to hit targets at safer distances to avoid the air defences of the opponent.
About two-thirds of the US stockpile, including the shorter-range JASSM, which has a range of about 250 miles, has been committed to the Iran war.
The order has amid U.S. President Trump's claim that Iran’s capabilities have been completely decimated.
The US had been having issues with supplies of missile interceptors and long-range strike weapons since the beginning of the war.
Replacing what has been used would take years of production, as the country has been using a large number of weapons like the JASSM ERs for strikes.
The weapons reduce risks to service members but has greatly reduced stocks of systems meant for opponent like China. Just the first four weeks of the war have consumed more than 1000 JASSM, according to a source who spoke under the condition of anonymity on the matter.
47 of them fired during the raid to capture Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
The move also comes after Iran shot down two US combat search and rescue helicopters and an A-10 jet. Meanwhile, Iran has launched about 1,600 ballistic missiles and about 4000 Shahed typed rudimentary cruise missiles. The US has used at least 3,200 interceptors defending against the ballistic missiles alone.
Production constraints have been a major concern. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Currently produces about 650 Patriot PAC-3 interceptors per year, with plans to scale up to make 2,000 a year by 2030. They have also signed an agreement to scale up THAAD interceptor output from 96 per year to 400.
However, committing a majority of the weapons to the Iran war does not mean they will all be used.
The US has funded the procurement of over 6,200 JASSM missiles since 2009 through production of a baseline variant ending a decade ago.
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin is expected to produce 396 JASSM-ER missiles in 2026.
If production lines are fully dedicated, the production could scale up to 860 annually.