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United States has used 80 of key missile interceptors · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: A dire warning coming from some of the nation's top
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  Speaker 1: military commanders. Sources now say that the US has gone
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  Speaker 1: through a dramatically high amount of a key weapon in
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  Speaker 1: just the past six months during the war with Iran. Sannon,
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  Speaker 1: senior national security reporters at Cohen, is a part of
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  Speaker 1: the team that is behind this reporting. So, Zach, what
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  Speaker 1: do you and are colleagues learning?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Casey, we're told that the US military has actually
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  Speaker 2: burned through more of its stockpile of key munitions than
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  Speaker 2: we previously thought, and it's prompting senior military commanders to
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  Speaker 2: issue warnings that those levels, those inventory levels are now
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  Speaker 2: dangerously low. That was a quote from one of the
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  Speaker 2: sources to me, Jim Shuddo and Haley Britsky. And look, specifically,
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  Speaker 2: we're told that eighty percent of the US stockpile of
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  Speaker 2: interceptors for a key air defense system and his dad
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  Speaker 2: that those have been used up during the Iran war
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  Speaker 2: so far, just in five months of this conflict. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's a staggering number. That's higher than the percentage than
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  Speaker 2: that we had believed was true just weeks ago, where
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  Speaker 2: it was more around sixty percent. But that is an
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  Speaker 2: important system because it's the primary means, along with the
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  Speaker 2: Patriot missiles, that the US is able to counter and
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  Speaker 2: take down ballistic missiles. And it's not just used by
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  Speaker 2: the US military, it's also used by some of its
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  Speaker 2: key allies, including some in the Middle East, namely Saudi
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  Speaker 2: Arabia and the United Arab Immirates. And so we're also told,
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  Speaker 2: in addition to those staggering low number of dad left
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  Speaker 2: in the US stockpiles, that the US has also gone
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  Speaker 2: through fifty percent of its Patriot interceptors. And to put
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  Speaker 2: that in perspective, the US had about two thousand Patriot
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  Speaker 2: missiles in its inventory before the war started. It has
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  Speaker 2: half that number now. And so we've known that this
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  Speaker 2: is a concern that's been raised by a General Dan Kane,
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  Speaker 2: the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, in these meetings with
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  Speaker 2: President Trump where they've discussed options for potentially escalating the conflict.
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  Speaker 2: We know that golf countries in particular have voice concerns
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  Speaker 2: also about how this stockpile shortage might might impact their
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  Speaker 2: ability to defend themselves against Iranian retaliation if Trump does
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  Speaker 2: forward with some sort of an escalation. So this is
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  Speaker 2: an important thread to watch in one that's been a
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  Speaker 2: persistent concern for weeks now.
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  Speaker 3: Troymnalcion and senior military analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander,
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  Speaker 3: retired Admiral James Savriitas, thank you so much for being here.
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  Speaker 3: If indeed nearly eighty percent of FAD and half of
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  Speaker 3: our patriot missile stock is gone since the Iran War began,
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  Speaker 3: how would you describe that? What does that mean?
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  Speaker 4: Dangerous in one word, and it's not only dangerous in
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  Speaker 4: the context of the Middle East, Sarah, it's dangerous in
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  Speaker 4: the context of Ukraine, and dangerous in the context of Taiwan.
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  Speaker 4: Let me explain what we're talking about here. And you're
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  Speaker 4: showing a picture of some of these ground to ear
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  Speaker 4: defense missiles that go up and shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, drones,
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  Speaker 4: cruise missiles even and if it is true, and you
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  Speaker 4: have to factor into this the denials from the Pentagon
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  Speaker 4: that are coming out, but if it's true that we're
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  Speaker 4: down eighty percent, we will be unable to fully help
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  Speaker 4: our allies in the Gulf, the Arab countries and Israel
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  Speaker 4: defend themselves. We will be unable to provide any ear
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  Speaker 4: defense interceptors to Ukraine, which will mean their war against
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  Speaker 4: Russia will go less well and we will not have
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  Speaker 4: interceptors available to deter China. So bottom line, if this
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  Speaker 4: is true these numbers, it's dangerous, and I know the
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  Speaker 4: combatant commanders around the world, which I used to be,
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  Speaker 4: both in Europe and in Latin America, are very concerned.
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  Speaker 3: I do want to ask you about just how long
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  Speaker 3: it takes to replenish to rebuild some of these munitions
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  Speaker 3: and what that also means, because in the meantime, Iran
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  Speaker 3: is using cheaply made things like dro owns to combat
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  Speaker 3: very expensive equipment of the United States is having to use.
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  Speaker 3: Give us some sense of the timeline of trying to
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  Speaker 3: replenish these.
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  Speaker 4: You've put your finger on the real problem here. And
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  Speaker 4: by the way, it's not just your defense weapons. There
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  Speaker 4: are credible reports that some of our precisions strike weapons,
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  Speaker 4: offensive weapons like atacms, like Tomahawk missiles, like precision strike missiles,
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  Speaker 4: these are also being depleted. So the problem, as you
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  Speaker 4: correctly point out, Sarah, is not only are they very expensive,
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  Speaker 4: but they are also long timelines to replenish. So you're
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  Speaker 4: not talking weeks, You're not talking months. You're talking years
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  Speaker 4: to rebuild these inventories.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 4: The Pentagon is keenly aware of this aspect of things,
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  Speaker 4: is pushing the defense industrial base very hard to accelerate
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  Speaker 4: all this. We've done this before in other conflicts, but
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  Speaker 4: that's a challenge. Time is of the essence here.
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  Speaker 1: Joining us now to discuss Democratic Senator Chris Koons of Delaware,
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  Speaker 1: who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much for being here in the arena. I want
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  Speaker 1: to first start with that reporting that Zach just laid
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  Speaker 1: out there about the level to which these stockpiles have
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  Speaker 1: been depleted. What are the implications in your view?
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  Speaker 5: Well, Casey, thanks for a chance to be on again.
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  Speaker 5: The implications of a real challenge to what's called our
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  Speaker 5: magazine depth or the number of our precision strike missiles
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  Speaker 5: and our interceptors, is that it weakens the United States.
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  Speaker 5: It weakens our hand in being prepared to defend our
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  Speaker 5: treaty allies in the Western Pacific, to defend our homeland,
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  Speaker 5: and to defend our critical allies and partners in Europe
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  Speaker 5: and the Middle East. This is not a new problem.
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  Speaker 5: We have had challenges with procuring these expensive exquisite mines
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  Speaker 5: munitions for a long time. Last year's appropriations bill, where
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  Speaker 5: I'm the senior Democrat for Defense appropriations, we authorized multi
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  Speaker 5: year procurement of several key munitions and moved billions of
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  Speaker 5: dollars into those lines. Frankly, when the President chose to
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  Speaker 5: launch a war of choice more than five months ago
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  Speaker 5: in the Middle East, one of the challenges I am
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  Speaker 5: certain that his senior military advisors briefed him on was
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  Speaker 5: that the Iranians were going to launch thousands of cheap,
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  Speaker 5: lethal drones at our facilities, our bases, our embassies, and
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  Speaker 5: our allies and partners, and we would use incredibly expensive,
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  Speaker 5: exquisite and rare munitions to intercept them or to defend
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  Speaker 5: against them with counter strikes. So this is a challenge
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  Speaker 5: we have faced for some time. Countries like Iran have
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  Speaker 5: learned how to make drones that cost relatively little, and
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  Speaker 5: we are still using very expensive munitions to stop them.
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  Speaker 6: Defense Secretary Pece Hegseth is denying CNN's reporting. He's saying
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  Speaker 6: it's not true. He's saying, we don't hate the fake
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  Speaker 6: news media enough now. Golf allies, however, are raising concerns
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  Speaker 6: about how the shortage could impact their ability to defend
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  Speaker 6: against Iranian retaliation if President Trump decides to say, escalate
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  Speaker 6: the ongoing conflict and adding to the urgency, Iran is
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  Speaker 6: now threatening to attack US vessels in the region. So
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  Speaker 6: we're bringing in Becca Wasser to the group chat. She's
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  Speaker 6: the defense lead at Bloomberg Economics. Okay, so we've got
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  Speaker 6: the head of the military saying it's not true, there's
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  Speaker 6: no shortage or diminished supply. What say, what do people
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  Speaker 6: know in the world of military analysts?
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  Speaker 7: All right, so the US isn't out of missiles, but
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  Speaker 7: it is running incredibly low of certain types of missiles.
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  Speaker 7: So it is running dangerously low of air defense interceptors,
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  Speaker 7: those bad interceptors, Patriot, and those are needed to protect
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  Speaker 7: US forces, US allies and the American homeland.
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  Speaker 6: To clarify, because especially in Iran where they're shooting off
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  Speaker 6: really cheap drones, they shoot off their cheap drone that's
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  Speaker 6: like thirty thousand dollars, and then we use our very
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  Speaker 6: expensive missiles to shoot.
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  Speaker 7: That down shut them down. And usually this is missile
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  Speaker 7: to missile ballistic defense as opposed to counter drone defenses
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  Speaker 7: at this juncture in time, but those are incredibly important.
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  Speaker 7: And then the US is also running low or of
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  Speaker 7: some of its long range standoff munitions, the missiles that
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  Speaker 7: it uses to essentially prosecute war from afar and keep
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  Speaker 7: forces safe. And so all of this matters is because
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  Speaker 7: whenever you put forward a potential operation, let's say, if
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  Speaker 7: President Trump decided he wanted, you know, options for escalation, again,
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  Speaker 7: you have to say what is the risk to mission
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  Speaker 7: and what are the risk to forces? And without some
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  Speaker 7: of those critical air defense interceptors and some of those
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  Speaker 7: other long range munitions, that risk to forces grows enormously.
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  Speaker 6: The thing I've been hearing though, is munitions are made
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  Speaker 6: to be used, and we are in a war. We
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  Speaker 6: are also at here and there when we decide to
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  Speaker 6: helping Ukraine right and its war against Russia. So is
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  Speaker 6: it the concern that this is a problem for the
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  Speaker 6: war we are in right now? Or is it what
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  Speaker 6: I often hear this sort of future scenario around Asia
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  Speaker 6: and China in the Indo Pacific.
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  Speaker 3: It's both.
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  Speaker 7: Right now, the US is probably constrained in its operational
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  Speaker 7: options in Iran.
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  Speaker 6: We'd say that in English constrained, and it's.
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  Speaker 7: Strange in what it can do. So if President Trump says,
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  Speaker 7: bring me options for the next phase of the war.
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  Speaker 7: Some of those options are going to be a lot
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  Speaker 7: more limited than they were a few days ago. And then,
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  Speaker 7: if we're looking for, you know, the US global role,
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  Speaker 7: the US doesn't have enough missiles ammunitions to protect itself
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  Speaker 7: and its allies. Plus, if you're looking to future conflict,
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  Speaker 7: these missiles take years and years and years to build.
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  Speaker 7: This is a generational gap that cannot be overcome in
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  Speaker 7: a short amount of time, and that has major implications
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  Speaker 7: for US military power and secure curity around the globe.