The precise number of American weapons in the stockpile is classified information, but there are ways analysts can determine approximate figures. Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, told Newsweek that analysts can get a rough idea by analyzing data on the total number of weapons the U.S. has bought and used across conflicts, though that information is not always available.
While there are no exact numbers, Kavanagh said, “with some certainty,” that the missile stockpiles are depleted at this point. There are multiple reasons behind this, including that they “were not that deep to start with.” Some of those munitions have been sent abroad or used by the U.S. during military operations against the Houthis in the Middle East or some of the activity in Latin America, Kavanagh added.
The most extensive concerns swirl around air defense, according to Kavanagh. “There was a lot of surprise even among the military community about the amount of air defense that the United States went through in helping to protect both U.S. Forces and Israel during the Twelve-Day war this summer. And that was only a Twelve-Day War against Iran, which had a reasonable stockpile of missiles, but not of anything approaching China or Russia. And yet it still severely drained air defense stockpiles,” she said.
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