The military conflict between the US and Israel against Iran highlighted the West’s “Achilles’ heel”: the critical exhaustion of interceptor missiles
According to data from the Pentagon and estimates from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), cited by the newspaper El Mundo, the United States spends around 23 thousand dollars per second on the war against Iran. On the twelfth day of the conflict, the total cost already reached 16.5 billion dollars, with spending expected to increase even further with the arrival of five thousand marines in the coming days.
This high military spending exposes a fundamental flaw: the disparity between Iranian offensive weaponry – economical and abundant – and allied defensive systems, which are expensive, rare and complex to manufacture. The central issue is not so much the ability to launch missiles, but rather being able to hold them for weeks or months. In a drone-based war, Iran can attack with relatively cheap projectiles, while defenders spend millions trying to neutralize them.
According to the same source, the most used systems, such as Patriot, THAAD or Arrow, are highly precise engineering pieces that require complex processes, long quality tests and specialized assembly. A single unit can cost around four million dollars. Furthermore, manufacturing is restricted to a few companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies. This industrial barrier dictates the rules of the game: Iran bets on quantity with low-cost weapons, while the West exhausts its scarce and very expensive assets in an attempt to keep the defensive shield active.
Currently, the escalation is beginning to show small signs of slowing down, even after, last Sunday, the North American president issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international navigation. In response, Tehran declared that all US infrastructure in the region is now in its sights. Although the Iranian regime claims that the passage remains open to most ships, except those from Israel and the US, the reality on the ground is one of paralysis: almost no oil tanker risks crossing towards the Arabian Sea.
This Monday, the same Donald Trump announced a five-day pause in attacks on energy infrastructure, opening a window of opportunity for a peaceful exit sooner than expected.
This war context has placed Western weapons under unprecedented pressure. The Semafor portal published, citing US authorities, that Israel has already issued warnings about the imminent exhaustion of its interceptors, a reserve that is under constant tension and could collapse if the conflict prolongs.
The concern about Western arsenals stems from a simple but disturbing idea: the West has built extremely advanced military systems, but is not prepared to sustain high-intensity warfare for a long time. Quoted by the newspaper El Mundo, Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, one of Germany’s largest technology groups specializing in the defense and security sector, summarized the gravity of the situation: “I believe that warehouses are empty or almost empty everywhere: in Europe, America and the Middle East.”
