US Senator Mark Kelly is amazed at the high level of ammunition depletion.Image: keystone
May 10, 2026, 10:25 p.mMay 10, 2026, 10:25 p.m
According to a US senator, the US military’s ammunition and missile stocks have been severely depleted. It was “shocking how much we have used up these stocks,” said Mark Kelly on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” adding that US President Donald Trump had dragged the United States into a war “with no strategic goal, no plan, no timetable.”
As a member of the Armed Services Committee, the Pentagon had informed the senator from Arizona about certain types of ammunition – according to Kelly, this included information about Tomahawk, ATACMS, SM-3 and Patriots missiles. It will take “years” to rebuild these stocks. Kelly did not provide any specific information.
Kelly warned that the US might not be able to defend its country in the event of a prolonged attack. The United States would then be in a worse situation “than we would otherwise be if this war in Iran had not happened.”
Kelly calls Pentagon budget proposal “outrageous”
The Pentagon is currently trying to get a significant increase in defense spending approved. The Trump administration’s budget proposal calls for almost $1.5 trillion in defense spending for the 2027 fiscal year. Kelly described this as “outrageous”. The Pentagon’s budget was $700 billion when it started in the Senate five and a half years ago, he said on “Face The Nation.”
According to the Pentagon, the Iran war had cost the United States around 25 billion US dollars (almost 21.4 billion euros) by the end of April. These are estimated to be all the expenses that have been incurred since Operation “Epic Fury” began. Most of the money was spent on ammunition. (sda/dpa)