🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) has published new estimates for the number of standoff munitions the U.S. expended during the 40 day combat period of the 3rd Gulf War.

They believe that ~25% of the JASSM inventory and ~30% of the Tomahawk/TLAM inventory have been expended in those 40 days.

The interceptor stocks are even more depleted, with estimates varying from 31-60% for the SM-3 interceptor to 16-32% for the SM-6 interceptor to 52-81% for the THAAD interceptor being expended.

CSIS has calculated that it would take 4 years to replenish the inventories of the standoff munitions used and more than 5 years to replenish the interceptor inventories.

Renewed hostilities between Iran, Israel and the U.S. would see the interceptor inventories go extinct while the standoff munitions inventories would be degraded even further.

📝 Patarames: U.S. airpower can generate vast, destructive firepower

But up until now, it used primarily 'luxury' assets, stand-off missiles to limit shot-downs

This enabled the chance of a clean, flawless military campaign against Iran

IF losses would be accepted, e.g. ~5-10 aircrafts lost per day, U.S. airpower could fly large-scale bombing raids into Iran with heavy, low-cost munitions like Mk84 bombs, GBU-28s, MOABs and GBU-57A/B MOPs

Only such a sacrificing, high-intensity warfare campaign could disable Iran's Ballistic Missile long-range strike capability

Hence if Trump would accept the loss of several hundred aircraft and their crews he would have a kinetic-option against Iran which does not require war-crimes, counter-value methods.

But 2026 U.S. society is not that of the Vietnam War, to let U.S. seriously think about such a scenario.

🔗 https://www.csis.org/analysis/last-rounds-status-key-munitions-iran-war-ceasefire