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Gen. Randy George warned months before the US-Israeli war against Iran that US missile defense stockpiles were critically low and could take until 2030 to recover, CBS News reported Thursday.
George raised the concern in late December, about two months before the conflict began, according to US officials familiar with his assessment. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed George as Army chief of staff in April, while the war was underway.
The assessment, included in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 force allocation planning, identified shortages of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (“THAAD”) interceptors and “Patriot” missiles. Supplies were expected to remain at strategically low levels until 2030.
Officials attributed the shortfall to weapons transfers to Ukraine, US military support for Israel and limited capacity in the defense industry, CBS News reported.
The conflict with Iran has put further pressure on supplies. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated that US forces entered 2026 with about 2,300 “Patriot” interceptors and used between 1,050 and 1,430 during the conflict.
The US had about 355 “THAAD” interceptors before the war, with an estimated 190 to 290 used, according to the report.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at CSIS, told CBS News the systems would be crucial in a potential conflict with China. “Air defense — missile defense — that will be huge,” he said, adding that a major confrontation with Beijing would require substantial interceptor supplies.
Replenishing stocks takes time: CSIS estimates that contracts for new “THAAD” interceptors take more than four years to fulfill, while orders for “Patriot” PAC-3 missiles take an average of 3 1/2 years.
The Pentagon rejected claims of a shortage. Chief spokesman Sean Parnell told CBS News: “Claims of U.S. munitions shortages are false.”
He added that Washington retains “everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”
