The Sunday Times warns of a long-standing imbalance in Pentagon defense spending, which has invested heavily in expensive platforms rather than ammunition stockpiles.
The United States has expended half of its Tomahawk cruise missile stockpile over the past 18 months, and its inventory of PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the Patriot system has fallen to fewer than 800 units, according to The Sunday Times. The report cites a long-standing imbalance in Pentagon defense spending, which has directed vast resources toward aircraft, ships, and other costly platforms, while the buildup of large ammunition reserves has received significantly less attention.
The issue is particularly acute with PAC-3 missiles for the Patriot system. At the start of 2022, the US had approximately 3,100 such interceptors. Since then, around 600 missiles have been transferred to Ukraine, hundreds were expended in the Middle East during 2024 and 2025, and an additional 1,200 or so, according to the newspaper's data, were used after the onset of the war with Iran.
Producing a single PAC-3 missile takes about two years and costs roughly $4 million. The Pentagon began expanding production capacity back in 2022, but rapidly replenishing the arsenal, as The Sunday Times warns, is not realistically achievable. The situation is further complicated by the fact that US ammunition is being consumed at a much faster rate than the defense industry can produce it.
In this context, the newspaper also reminds of China, which is estimated to possess approximately 1,200 ballistic missiles that could be directed against US forces in the Pacific region. This underscores that the strategic vulnerability of the US is not only viewed through current conflicts but also through potential future scenarios in the Pacific Ocean.
The sources on which the report is based are the Telegram channels RVvoenkor and UNIAN Ukraine, which relayed The Sunday Times' claims. Specific reactions from the Pentagon to the published figures were not provided in the sources.
