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[Herald Economy=Reporter Jeong Mok-hee] Analysts warned on May 21 that U.S. use of more than half its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) interceptors in the war with Iran has intensified security concerns in South Korea and Japan.
The Washington Post, citing multiple security officials, reported that U.S. forces fired more than 200 THAAD interceptors to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles headed for Israel. That figure equals roughly half of the U.S. THAAD interceptor stockpile.
U.S. forces also launched more than 100 Standard-3 and Standard-6 interceptors from ships operating in the eastern Mediterranean.
Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said the U.S. now has only about 200 THAAD interceptors remaining after shouldering much of the missile-defense mission in the conflict. She warned that production will struggle to keep pace with demand. She added that Israel conserved its inventory of higher-end interceptors.
Grieco said the U.S. shortfall has unnerved Asian allies — especially Japan and South Korea, which rely on American deterrence against potential threats from North Korea and China — and warned the imbalance could carry costs in theaters unrelated to Iran.
In fact, U.S. Forces Korea commander Javier Brunson told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on April 21 that THAAD interceptors stationed in South Korea are “being sent (to the Middle East) and prepared for movement.”
While U.S. forces were burning through costly THAAD interceptors, the Israeli military reportedly used fewer than 100 of the relatively cheaper Arrow and David’s Sling interceptors.
U.S. officials said Washington and Jerusalem agreed before the conflict to split missile-defense responsibilities, with U.S. forces using THAAD to absorb ballistic-missile attacks aimed at Israel.
Officials warn that the imbalance in how the two countries are employing defensive assets could worsen if a ceasefire collapses and fighting resumes. Recently, the Israeli military decided to temporarily take some air-defense batteries offline for maintenance.
The Washington Post noted that the rapid erosion of U.S. missile-defense capacity may give President Donald Trump pause about sustaining a war with Iran.
That dynamic may help explain why Trump has alternated between expressing optimism about a diplomatic end to the conflict and threatening renewed military action — only to repeatedly hold off.
Although Trump has claimed Iran’s missile forces are “almost destroyed,” U.S. intelligence assesses Iran still retains roughly 70% of its prewar missile inventory. Analysts also say significant quantities of highly enriched uranium may remain inside nuclear facilities struck by U.S. and Israeli strikes last year.
On May 19, Trump reportedly had a heated phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over whether to pursue a “diplomatic solution” or press ahead with military operations to end the war.
Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign-policy studies at the Cato Institute, said the U.S.-Israel dynamics exposed by the Iran war appear to conflict with Trump’s “America First” slogan.
Logan also pointed to last year’s Pentagon disclosure that Patriot air-defense missile stocks were at only about 25% of the level needed to execute existing defense plans. “That should have been a warning then,” he said, questioning why the administration did not treat it as a serious crisis.
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