Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis, argued that, even if “the United States has enough munitions to continue fighting in Iran for some time,” particularly through limited strikes and the conversion of “dumb bombs” into precision weaponry through JDAM kits, “on the defensive side, it faces greater constraints.”
“It could protect U.S. forces against limited strikes for some time. However, it cannot meet these defensive needs and supply Ukraine with interceptors for the winter,” Kavanagh told Newsweek. “And of course, continuing to expend weapons in Iran (and through aid to Ukraine however small) comes at a cost to future readiness and means it will be even longer before the United States is ready for another conflict.”
“Specifically, right now, the United States could not resource a major war with China or Russia,” Kavanagh said. “The longer the war in Iran and aid to Ukraine continue, the longer the timeline before the U.S. military is once again prepared to defend the country against the most existential threats it might face.”
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