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Ousted U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George warned months before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran that American missile defense stockpiles were critically low and could take until 2030 to recover, CBS News reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials familiar with his assessment.
George raised the concerns in late December, roughly two months before the conflict began, according to the report. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed him from his position in April, while the war was underway.
The warning, included in the Pentagon's fiscal 2027 force allocation planning, identified shortages of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and Patriot missiles, with supplies projected to remain at strategically low levels through 2030.
Officials cited by CBS attributed the shortages to weapons transfers to Ukraine, U.S. military support for Israel and limited production capacity within the American defense industry.
The war against Iran has placed additional pressure on U.S. missile defense inventories, according to the report.
Estimates from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) indicated that U.S. forces entered 2026 with approximately 2,300 Patriot interceptors.
Of those, an estimated 1,050 to 1,430 were used during the conflict.
The U.S. military also entered the war with approximately 355 THAAD interceptors, of which an estimated 190 to 290 were expended, according to CSIS.
The figures suggest that a substantial portion of America's available high-end missile defense interceptors was consumed during the fighting.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at CSIS, told CBS News that the availability of missile defense systems would be particularly important in any potential military confrontation with China.
“Air defense — missile defense — that will be huge,” Cancian said.
He warned that a major conflict with Beijing would require substantial quantities of interceptors to counter incoming missile threats.
Replenishing depleted inventories could take years because of lengthy manufacturing and procurement timelines.
According to CSIS estimates cited in the report, new THAAD interceptor contracts take more than four years to fulfill, while orders for Patriot PAC-3 missiles require an average of 3 1/2 years.
The production timelines raise questions about how quickly Washington could rebuild its missile defense reserves following the war with Iran.
The Pentagon disputed the suggestion that U.S. forces were facing shortages that could undermine military operations.
“Claims of U.S. munitions shortages are false,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told CBS News.
Parnell said the United States retained “everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”
His comments contrasted with the concerns George reportedly raised before the war and the estimates published by CSIS regarding interceptor consumption and replenishment timelines.
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