Concerns Rise That Stockpile of Interceptor Missiles Dwindling

Interceptor missiles have helped spare the Middle East from further destruction, shooting down Iranian attacks on its neighbors.

But fears are growing that the stockpile of interceptor missiles is becoming dangerously low, The New York Times reported.

"We started this conflict with a big hole," Tom Karako, the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told the New York Times.

"The hole got a lot bigger over the last month as we keep shooting these things off," Karako added.

Further hurting the supply of interceptors is that two interceptor missiles must be fired for each incoming missile, the Times reported.

The number of interceptors each nation has is a closely guarded secret, according to the Times.

But an analysis run by the Times of Gulf state defense systems warns that Iran’s constant attacks have depleted the inventory of interceptor missiles for countries like the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

Experts warned that a ceasefire with Iran would not solve the interceptor challenge, which remains a global issue, following the war between Ukraine and Russia and other conflicts in the Middle East, the Times reported.

The rise of cheap drones has complicated the math for militaries using expensive interceptors. An adversary can attack with one-way drones that cost tens of thousands of dollars, forcing its enemy to deploy multimillion-dollar air-defense systems to repel them. And the drones are much more easily and rapidly replaced.

A ceasefire with Iran would not completely solve the interceptor shortage, experts said.

Countries like Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan rely on interceptors to deter potential aggression by North Korea or China, the Times said, while countries in Europe have recognized the need to strengthen their defenses against possible Russian aggression.

Tal Inbar, an Israeli senior research fellow at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a nonprofit based in Virginia, warned in an interview with the Times that it is hard to produce interceptors quickly.

"There are no stockpiles of those systems, so again you are relying on other factories and in some cases other countries," Inbar said. "It’s not like a factory producing 9-millimeter pistol ammunition."

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