State of the Stockpiles

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America think tank is out with new research on the effects of Israel and Iran’s recent war on weapons stockpiles, revealing that the U.S. used some of its high-powered weaponry to protect Israel.

The U.S. used many more THAAD interceptors than expected to down some Iranian missiles, which evaded Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, per data reviewed by JINSA analysts.

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Most of the Iranian missiles fired at Israel were ultimately intercepted, though THAAD interceptors are in high demand and their use cost U.S. taxpayers over a billion dollars, per the report.

Ari Cicurel, a JINSA analyst who authored the white paper, told NatSec Daily, “nothing that has been devised or likely will be devised is going to be foolproof.” But it is a warning that the U.S. and Israel need to replenish their stocks of interceptors across the arsenal and innovate such that they can develop even more cost-effective and higher-quality air defense systems.

“The baseline levels they had before are not going to be sufficient going forward. They need to expand the stockpiles that they keep so that in a war of this size, they’re not using as large of a percentage of their stocks,” Cicurel said.

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Read the full piece in POLITICO.