Concerns Raised Over US Missile Stockpile
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What are the new concerns about depleted U.S. air‑defense missile stockpiles?
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It's Friday, August 7th. Replenish and repeat. We start here.
After months of airstrikes against Iran, they have enough in the inventory right now.
There are new concerns about depleted US weapons and if stockpile levels can be restored fast enough. I'm introducing a bill to ban the Pentagon from ever doing this again. New math on how the Pentagon accounts for casualties in this ongoing conflict. A new flu shot clears a key hurdle.
This is a technology and a platform that has been really exciting for the field of public health and marks a first in the fight against the deadly virus.
From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Michelle Franzen. Hey, Brad's out today, but I've got you covered in the meantime. We'll start with the ongoing hostilities between the US and Iran and a new consideration facing President Trump as he weighs a possible new large scale attack against Iranian targets. If Iran, he says, doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz and finalize a peace deal.
Not over well.
I'd rather make a deal. Because I don't want to kill people. I do not want to kill people.
There is growing concern that US munition stockpiles, including air defense missiles, have dropped to critical levels since the start of the war. Yesterday, after initially downplaying the reports, President Trump acknowledged that the supply of some munitions is a little bit tighter, but says the US is receiving a steady supply of those materials.
We have certain types of munitions that are very powerful. Uh that we have unlimited virtual unlimited supply. We have others where it's a little bit tighter, and we're getting them in on a daily basis.
The depleted stockpiles sparking a debate within the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill. ABC senior Pentagon reporter Louis Martinez starts us off. Louis, what do we know about these internal discussions going on within the Trump administration?
Well Michelle, one of the things that we do know from US officials is that yes, they are concerned that there are very low amounts of air defense missiles. We're talking about Patriot missiles, we're talking about THAAD missiles. These are missiles that intercept and ballistic missiles at what's called terminal high altitude. So yes, up in the up in the space as they're on their way down. And US officials they they are concerned. I mean, one characterized the levels of those two missiles as being extremely low. No, that means that they have enough in the inventory right now, but enough to be drawing concerns.
We say, Hey, we're we're running out of munitions, we could be emboldening Iran to uh launch against us.
So there have been some public estimates that maybe the US had about maybe twenty five hundred Patriot missiles at the start of this conflict with Iran. We have heard from at least one US official who says that the US has gone through at least two thirds of that. With regards to the THAAD missiles, we've been told that maybe more than half of the missiles that were available at the t start of the war are in have been depleted or used against Iran.
Well the reports are concerning and uh obviously that's why we need to Do more to make sure that our military has the funding it needs.
Yes, there have been internal discussions about how to fix this and we've seen publicly that the Pentagon has been announcing these deals with some of the major contractors that make these weapons very uh sophisticated weapons and they take a long time to build.
How are Senate Democrats responding to the Pentagon’s missile‑stockpile reports?
Some yeah, sometimes an individual missile can take maybe one to two years to make. Well partly because there are so many companies that are involved and I think there may be four hundred companies that are involved uh in trying to make all the individual parts that go into a Patriot missile.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the new concerns about depleted U.S. air‑defense missile stockpiles?
0:00–3:59
2
How are Senate Democrats responding to the Pentagon’s missile‑stockpile reports?
3:59–7:49
3
Why did the Pentagon change its method for accounting war casualties in Iran?
7:49–11:53
4
What is President Trump’s stance on a possible large‑scale attack against Iran?
11:53–15:52
5
Can the United States ramp up production to replenish missile supplies quickly?
15:52–18:19
6
What legislation is Senator Tammy Duckworth introducing to stop Pentagon accounting changes?
18:19–21:25
7
Why did the FDA approve Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine and how does it work?
21:25–23:55
8
How will the new flu vaccine impact the upcoming flu season and public‑health recommendations?
23:55–27:22