The United States has fired 850 Tomahawk missiles at Iran. Each one costs around $2.6 million. (Image: Checking a missile as part of Operation “Epic Fury”) Image: www.imago-images.de
The United States fired thousands of missiles at Iran before the ceasefire took effect. That has drastically reduced supplies of certain types of missiles, shortages of which could last for years.
April 24, 2026, 9:41 a.mApril 24, 2026, 9:41 a.m
translation
This text was written by our colleagues from French-speaking Switzerland and we translated it for you.
American bombings against Iran lasted 39 days before a fragile ceasefire ended hostilities, at least temporarily. According to the White House, Washington attacked more than 13,000 targets in the first phase of the war.
According to the American think tank, the US air strikes were based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) largely based on seven different types of rockets. In total, almost 4,000 rockets were fired.
This intensive deployment has raised concerns about the state of America’s ammunition stockpile, according to CSIS. In fact, in some cases pre-war stocks have fallen sharply. For example, the United States fired around 1,200 Patriot missiles, more than half of the 2,330 units available before the war began.
Likewise, the US Army only has 33% of the THAAD missiles and 53% of the SM-3 missiles that were available to it before the start of Operation Epic Fury. The Tomahawk stocks are in better condition despite the high number of shells fired (850).
“Insufficient stocks”
Despite these numbers, the US Army is unlikely to run out of ammunition, at least not immediately. “The United States has enough missiles to continue this war no matter what scenario occurs,” CSIS said.
Especially since the use of these seven types of missiles declined after the first days of the conflict, the think tank continued. The USA can also rely on numerous cheaper alternatives, which, however, have a shorter range – which endangers the launch platforms.
Even if Washington has nothing to worry about for the time being, the long-term situation looks much less rosy. “Even before the war with Iran, supplies were viewed as insufficient to confront an adversary of this magnitude,” notes the CSIS, referring in particular to China.
This risk of a shortage “will persist for many years,” predicts the think tank. And adds:
“Restoring these seven types of ammunition to pre-war levels will take between one and four years.”
CSIS
The Trump administration recently announced a series of initiatives to bring missile stocks “to war readiness.” However, it will take “years” for this plan to come to fruition, CSIS said.
Billions of dollars
Regardless of how stocks develop in the future, one thing is certain: this war has already cost the United States an astronomical sum. A single Patriot missile costs almost $4 million, a Tomahawk missile costs $2.6 million. However, the US Army has already fired more than 1,200 or 850 of them.
For the seven types of missiles mentioned in this article alone, the total cost is over $20 billion. (asi)