AP exclusive: U.S. Patriot missile stocks in Europe 'beyond critical' due to Iran war, officials say
The U.S. military is experiencing a "beyond critical" shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump's war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.
The US military is experiencing a severe shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe, according to officials. This shortage, described as "beyond critical", is largely due to the depletion of interceptor inventories in the Middle East conflict.
The shortage particularly affects Patriot missile interceptors, which are capable of shooting down high-speed ballistic missiles, such as those used by Russia. According to a US defense official in Europe and a NATO official, this shortfall raises concerns about the vulnerability of NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.
In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault, NATO's ability to defend itself would be limited, with the US military not having enough Patriots to stop a sustained attack and having only a "very limited" capability to defend against a single strike. This situation could leave NATO countries exposed to repeated attacks, similar to the experience of Ukraine, which is struggling with a shortage of Patriots.
Brief written by urgent.news from PBS NewsHour, Haaretz, Global News — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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