The United States has burned through more than half its stockpiles of key long-range precision munitions since Operation Epic Fury launched against Iran in late February, according to estimates from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The rate of consumption has outpaced production by an almost comical margin, with over 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired in just months, a figure roughly ten times the annual production rate.

The numbers are stark

CSIS estimates that over 50% of US stockpiles across at least four of seven heavily used munition types have been expended. That includes Tomahawk missiles, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM), Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), and critical air defense interceptors.

The Patriot missile system, America’s workhorse for ballistic missile defense, has taken the hardest hit. Pre-war inventory sat at roughly 2,200 modern Patriot interceptors. That number has cratered to somewhere between 827 and 1,000, a depletion of approximately 65%.

THAAD interceptors, the higher-altitude complement to Patriot, have fared somewhat better but still dropped by about 38%. The pre-conflict stockpile of an estimated 452 interceptors has shrunk to between 234 and 278.

Lockheed Martin gets a historic lifeline

The Pentagon’s response came in July 2026, when Lockheed Martin was awarded a $58.6 billion contract specifically to replenish the Patriot missile stockpile. To put that number in perspective, it’s larger than the entire annual defense budget of most NATO allies.

Think tank modeling suggests a multi-year timeline for full replenishment, meaning the US could be operating with significantly degraded stockpiles well into the late 2020s.

Tomahawk missiles offer the clearest illustration. The US fired more than 1,000 of them in a matter of months. Raytheon, which manufactures the missile, has historically produced them at a rate of roughly 100 per year.

What this means for defense investors and markets

The $58.6 billion Patriot contract alone represents one of the largest single munitions deals in modern US history. JASSM, PrSM, THAAD, and Tomahawk inventories all need replenishment, each involving different contractors and production ecosystems.