The US military has significantly depleted its stockpile of key missiles during the war with Iran and created a “near-term risk” of running out of ammunition in a future conflict should one arise in the next few years, according to experts and three people familiar with recent internal Defense Department stockpile assessments.
Your first postulation is correct. The US is not prepared for drone warfare and it’s showing. The US is firing expensive missiles to intercept cheap Shaheds. I suspect your second may also be true but idk.
There’s got to be a certain degree of the defence department ordering a certain number then a lower number being delivered and ‘oh dear, we don’t know what happened to the others and the costs have risen so maybe the military should have an audit to find the missing money?..’
Your first postulation is correct. The US is not prepared for drone warfare and it’s showing. The US is firing expensive missiles to intercept cheap Shaheds. I suspect your second may also be true but idk.
https://fortune.com/2026/04/22/iran-math-trump-putin-ukraine-1-million-missile-20000-drone/
There’s got to be a certain degree of the defence department ordering a certain number then a lower number being delivered and ‘oh dear, we don’t know what happened to the others and the costs have risen so maybe the military should have an audit to find the missing money?..’