US Arsenal Exhaustion: 1,100 Tomahawk Missiles Fired, Pentagon Constrained by Own Stockpiles

Japanese, South Korean, and European media document a major operational constraint that US press ignores: a quarter of Tomahawk stock consumed in 56 days.

Japanese media (Nikkei), South Korean media (Korea Times), and European media (Der Spiegel, Financial Times) have documented the depletion of US cruise missile stocks after 56 days of war against Iran. The CSIS estimated the pre-conflict stock to be around 4,000 Tomahawk missiles. At 1,100 fired, a quarter of the stock is consumed in two months ([see our analysis](/fr/sujets/iran-guerre-armes-epuisees-otan-fracture-20260424)).

Raytheon's production rate is approximately 400 missiles per year. At this pace, replacing the 1,100 fired will take nearly three years. The $1.5 trillion defense budget voted in April includes funding for replenishment, but the production line has a cycle of 18 to 24 months – money does not turn into missiles overnight.

The constraint is operational: the United States is maintaining simultaneous military pressure on Iran (main theater), deterrence in the South China Sea (or Beijing is testing the limits of the Ormuz blockade), and surveillance on the Korean Peninsula (five North Korean ballistic missile launches on April 19). Each Tomahawk fired in Iran is a Tomahawk that will not be available in the Asia-Pacific.

US media cover the strikes without mentioning this logistical constraint. The Japanese or German reader knows that Washington is approaching an operational ceiling. The American reader sees a war with unlimited resources.

The blind spot is structural: in a democracy where support for war depends on the perception of a quick victory, documenting the exhaustion of resources is equivalent to questioning the viability of the war effort – a framing that mainstream American media avoid.