US said to use over half its THAAD interceptors defending Israel from Iranian missiles

The US used up more than half of its inventory of THAAD anti-missile interceptors while defending Israel from Iranian attacks during the recent war, The Washington Post reports.

According to the report, the United States also used over 100 SM-3 and SM-6 interceptors to defend Israel, which itself used fewer than 100 Arrow interceptors and around 90 from the David Sling’s system.

A US official tells the newspaper that if fighting renews with Iran, the US will likely need to use even more interceptors defending Israel because of a decision by the latter to send some missile defense batteries for maintenance.

“Israel is not capable of fighting and winning wars on its own, but nobody actually knows this, because they never see the back end,” says a US official quoted in the report.

The Pentagon denies to The Washington Post that there is any issue of burden sharing with Israel, saying, “Ballistic missile interceptors are just one tool in a vast network of systems and capabilities.”

The Israeli Embassy in Washington says in response that “the US has no other partner with the military willingness, readiness, shared interests and capabilities of Israel.”