Heavy U.S. weapons use and naval deployments in the war with Iran are straining missile inventories, delaying arms deliveries to Asian allies and pulling major military assets away from the Indo-Pacific as China continues pressuring Taiwan.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The U.S. military campaign against Iran is consuming large quantities of some of America’s most important weapons while drawing ships and other forces away from Asia, raising new concerns about how quickly the Pentagon could respond if China moved against Taiwan.
The Washington Post reported that the strain is being felt across several areas at once, from dwindling missile-defense inventories to delayed arms deliveries and reduced naval presence in the Indo-Pacific.
More than 30 U.S. ships that had originally been scheduled for the Pacific have instead been sent to the Middle East during the Iran conflict, according to one U.S. official cited by the Post.
“It’s clear that they’re paying a big price, especially on the Navy side of things,” the official said.
Among the most visible shifts was the diversion of the Japan-based USS George Washington to the Middle East this month.
That deployment left the Indo-Pacific without a U.S. aircraft carrier at a time when China continues expanding its naval capabilities and applying military pressure around Taiwan.
The impact is also being felt in military cooperation with U.S. allies.
Washington canceled an amphibious landing exercise with South Korea that had been scheduled for September because of demands placed on U.S. forces by the Iran war.
The cancellation followed President Donald Trump’s earlier decision to scale back some joint military exercises with South Korea.
Inside U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, officials have privately expressed frustration over the continued diversion of resources toward the Middle East, according to the Post.
The Pentagon, however, maintains that the United States remains capable of responding to threats in Asia.
A War Department official told the newspaper that “the Joint Force remains postured, ready, and capable of deterring aggression” in the Indo-Pacific.
The growing concern extends beyond U.S. deployments to American allies that depend heavily on U.S.-manufactured weapons.
Taiwan is now expecting “significant delays” in receiving PAC-3 Patriot missile interceptors because the United States has been using large numbers of missile-defense weapons in the Middle East, according to a Taiwanese official.
The official described the movement of resources away from Asia as “troubling.”
Nearly $30 billion in U.S. military equipment already approved for Taiwan remains undelivered, according to Taiwan Security Monitor.
That backlog includes approximately $882 million worth of Patriot missiles.
Japan has also been warned that deliveries of American weapons, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, could face delays, an Asian diplomat told the Post.
Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, said replenishing American inventories will likely take precedence over quickly completing some foreign deliveries.
“It seems to me that the likelihood that [Taiwan is] going to get a whole 100 is pretty low. I think the number one priority for the United States, rightly, will be refilling its own stockpiles,” Kavanagh said.
The scale of American weapons expenditure in the Iran war has intensified those concerns.
More than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired during the first four weeks of the conflict, according to the Post.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that total Tomahawk use has since surpassed 1,000 missiles.
Those numbers are significant because advanced precision-guided weapons can take considerable time to manufacture and replenish.
Some of the greatest concern surrounds Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, interceptors, which are designed to defend against incoming missiles.
CSIS estimates that U.S. forces have already used most of their prewar inventory of those interceptors, leaving approximately 1,000.
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at CSIS, said the limited availability of substitute systems makes those losses particularly important.
“They are the most critical because there are no good substitutes. When you run out of Patriots, when you’re out of THAADs, there’s no way you can stop missiles coming in,” Cancian said.
The Pentagon is attempting to accelerate replacement production.
One of the largest initiatives is a $58.6 billion contract with Lockheed Martin intended to substantially expand production of PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors.
The program is designed to triple Patriot interceptor production by 2030.
That expansion, however, does not immediately solve the problem of weapons being expended faster than existing production lines can replace them.
The situation has taken on greater urgency because of China’s continued military buildup and pressure against Taiwan.
U.S. intelligence officials have said Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered the People’s Liberation Army to develop the capability to invade Taiwan by 2027.
Current U.S. assessments do not indicate that Beijing has made an imminent decision to launch such an attack.
Trump has also repeatedly said he does not believe Xi will invade Taiwan while he is president.
Military planners nevertheless must prepare for the possibility.
CSIS war games examining a conflict over Taiwan have repeatedly found that U.S. forces could exhaust stocks of several critical weapons within weeks of sustained fighting.
Cancian said the United States faced ammunition constraints even before the Iran conflict began consuming missiles at its current rate.
“Even at the beginning of the war against Iran, we were likely inadequate for a conflict with China in the western Pacific,” Cancian said.
The challenge is particularly acute because the two potential theaters would require some of the same high-demand military systems.
Patriot and THAAD interceptors used to defend U.S. forces and allies from Iranian missiles are also important to protecting American bases and partner forces during a possible conflict in the Pacific.
Tomahawk cruise missiles being fired against targets in the Iran war would likewise be valuable in a high-intensity confrontation involving China.
Naval forces now operating in the Middle East are also among the assets U.S. commanders would rely upon in the Pacific.
The result is a competition for equipment between immediate battlefield requirements and preparations for a potentially larger future conflict.
For Taiwan, the pressure is already visible in delayed arms deliveries.
For Japan and South Korea, it is appearing through warnings about weapon schedules and changes to joint military exercises.
For U.S. commanders in the Pacific, the diversion of more than 30 ships and an aircraft carrier represents a reduction in forces available in the region while China continues expanding its military presence.
The Trump administration maintains that the United States remains capable of deterring aggression in the Indo-Pacific despite the demands of the Iran war.
The expanding weapons backlog and accelerating consumption of missile inventories, however, are forcing the Pentagon to confront how long it could sustain intensive operations in multiple regions at the same time.
With American factories racing to increase production and allies waiting for weapons already purchased, the Iran conflict is exposing a central challenge facing U.S. defense planners: preparing for a possible confrontation with China while simultaneously supplying and fighting military operations elsewhere.
That strain could become increasingly consequential if the Middle East conflict continues long enough to consume additional inventories before U.S. manufacturers can rebuild them.
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