The Guardian: Washington only has 25% of the Patriot missiles it needs
The Guardian newspaper revealed that the United States possesses only about 25% of the Patriot interceptor missiles it needs for all of the Pentagon’s military plans.
The Guardian noted that the Patriot missile inventory had fallen to such a critical level that it raised concerns within the Pentagon that it could jeopardize potential US military operations.
Deputy Defense Secretary Steven Feinberg authorized a halt to the transfer process while a review was conducted of the locations to which the weapons were being sent.
President Donald Trump appeared to reverse at least part of that decision on Monday when he told reporters before a White House dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would “send more weapons” to Ukraine, though he did not reveal whether that would include Patriot systems.
Trump told Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call that he wasn’t responsible for halting arms shipments and that he had ordered a review of US arms stockpiles but hadn’t ordered a freeze.
According to four officials familiar with the issue, the decision last month to halt the transfer was largely based on the Pentagon’s global munitions tracking system, which is used to generate the minimum munitions required to carry out US military operations.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, stockpiles of a number of critical munitions have remained below this level for several years since the Biden administration began sending military aid to Ukraine.
The Trump administration began a review of the level of Patriot missiles and other expended munitions around February, according to the sources.
The deliberations accelerated after the United States deployed more interceptor missiles to the Middle East to support the Houthi campaign and Israel.
These people added that the situation became more acute following Trump’s move to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities last month, when the United States launched nearly 30 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles fired at al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
The recent depletion of Patriot missiles and other munitions formed part of the basis for a recommendation memorandum drafted by Elbridge Colby, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, which outlined several options for weapons preservation and sent to Feinberg’s office.
Previous reports indicated that Colby, who has been criticized by Democrats for prioritizing the diversion of resources from the conflict in Ukraine to prepare for a potential war with China, had halted the transfer, but two people said the undersecretary’s office lacked the authority to take such a unilateral step.
The two sources said the decision was made by Feinberg, the former CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, to whom Colby reports, and then signed off on Feinberg’s decision by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
According to the Guardian, Ukraine has only limited options for acquiring precision-guided weapons and more basic weapons to repel Russian attacks.
