The rate at which the U.S. military has used the Tomahawk missiles in the Iran war has reportedly prompted internal talks about increasing supplies

Some Pentagon officials are concerned about the “alarmingly low” supply of Tomahawk missiles remaining in the U.S. military’s arsenal after firing 850 of the weapons into Iran, according to a report.

The rate at which the U.S. military has used the Tomahawk missiles in President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, now in its fourth week, has prompted internal talks about increasing supplies, according to The Washington Post.

U.S. officials told the newspaper that the number of Tomahawks left in the Middle East was “alarmingly low.” Another official told the outlet that the U.S. supply of Tomahawks was closing in on “Winchester,” military slang that means almost out of ammunition.

  • kreskin@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    those are about 3 million each, in pre trump funds. Looks like tax paying Americans will all be emptying or wallets and cutting services to replace those now too. I hope Israel is happy with us and sends our politicians a tiny fraction of that amount in bribes.

    Btw only 9000 tomahawk missiles have ever been produced in the 43 year lifespan of the tomahawk program, and at top speed we can produce 600 a year. We usually make up to 90 a year. We reportedly had between 3-4000 in our inventory.

    • anugeshtu@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a gun nut or at all pro war, but why do they produce multimillion dollar missiles consisting of metal, fuel and explosives for that much for a one-way use instead of using that money to prevent wars? Well, call me a sweet summer child.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        6 days ago

        Tomahawk missiles are meant to be used for high precision strikes, they’re basically the missile equivalent of a 50. cal sniper loaded with AP-I rounds which is to say explosive but deadly if you want someone or something annihilated. Problem is they’re using them like artillery or maybe a V-1 so of course it’s gonna be fucking expensive for no reason, to go back to my previous analogy it’s like using said sniper and ammo to hunt squirrels.

    • quips@slrpnk.net
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      6 days ago

      This is what scares me in a true protracted war with China. Imagine their production capacity. Even if our weapons are better, does it make a difference if they can build them 10x faster at 90% the efficacy?

      • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        You only need a few nukes to defeat all missiles China could produce in their entire existence. Any direct hot conflict with possibility of either side’s total defeat would turn into a nuclear one.

      • sudoshakes@reddthat.com
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        6 days ago

        US army internal planning and table top runs show we run out of munitions for the high-high fight in days in a war with China.

        It’s a documented and very real concern.

        • prenatal_confusion@feddit.org
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          6 days ago

          I always thought that was the point of nuclear bombs. You can attack me and you might even defeat me but it’s gonna cost you. No need to have a lot of ammunition but a few that are very hurtful.

          • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
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            6 days ago

            If you kill me ill kill you right back.

            Oh yeah? We just built more nukes than you we cna kill you 5 times.

            Kill me 5 times? Watch this. I can kill you 50 times now lol.

            50 times? Hah! Pathetic! Watch how I have the capacity to kill everyone everywhere a hundred times over!

            Shit. Better build better nukes so I can kill everyone a thousand times over.

            The worst is this is the most intelligent form of life in the known universe. This might be peak.

  • FinishingDutch@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    It’s so silly. Those were made to be used ‘surgically’: to hit specific high value targets at extended range while minimising collateral damage. If you feel the need to use 850 of them, you’ve chosen the wrong weapon system: at that point, you should be flying B52’s over whatever you want to hit. Or turn Tehran into a glass parking lot.

    • krisevol@lemmus.org
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      6 days ago

      If china get Taiwan the US is going into the stone age overnight. No president is trying to avoid this, both parties want to protect Taiwan.

    • poop@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      Or yet another excuse of why they can’t help there own citizens. “Universal health care? You know how much that would cost???”

  • itisileclerk@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Now they will print more dollars to buy some more Tomahawks and the world will bet on that dollar again. When it does this shit (USA) will collapse fast.

  • Labor Class@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    USA has nothing more than Money and resource. that is perfectly fine. Anyway American taxpayer will prever to stay hungry but keep feed the army

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    They’re starting to look like a waste of money that we should not replenish.

  • SaltSong@startrek.website
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    8 days ago

    Wait, how many of those do we have? I’d expect us to have at least 10,000 given how we are supposed to be the bastion of goddamn freedom. Can hardly claim to be the stalwart defender of democracy if we don’t have enough ammo for at least a month.

    And if we don’t have ammo, maybe we shouldn’t be starting wars with nations that have a military.

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Honestly, there’s really no shortage of these. They’re not saying we might run out, they’re saying we might have to order more. It’s essentially just a matter of writing a check.

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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          And yet somehow there’s always money for the defense budget.

          I’m not saying I like the situation, but realistically, if the US government wants more missiles, I don’t think they’re gonna have any trouble getting them.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      The pentagon has been dodging audits like fucking Neo for over 50 years.

      I have a hunch that a good chunk of that trillion dollars they get every year just kind of evaporates. You know, you order 8,500 tomahawks from your Raytheon buddy, he sends 850 and pockets the difference. No one questions it because surely we’re not going to get into an extended ground conflict so who’s gonna notice.

      We’re probably just like the Russians, just with better advertising and fresh paint.

  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    So, apparently there’s a term that’s used in the defence industry for advanced, extremely capable, very expensive weapons: “exquisite weapons”. This sounds like something out of a fantasy RPG, but it’s actually the term they use in the industry to talk about these things, the Tomahawk being one of them.

    So, while Iran is hitting various sites around the middle east with machines that cost about the same as a small car and are built in a basic factory, the US is spending 100x as much, building missiles in special high-tech factories using clean rooms and high end robots. Not only that, but the weapons the US is using to intercept Iran’s drones cost about 100x as much as the drones they’re shooting down.