The US Department of Defence inspector general has revealed that the United States is facing strategic shortfalls in ammunition reserves as a direct consequence of its costly military campaign in Iran.
In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report delivered to Congress, the Pentagon watchdog stated that between February 28 and June 30, Operation Epic Fury (OEF) incurred an estimated expenditure of $33.4 billion, with $22.3 billion consumed by expended munitions alone.
The report noted that "the munitions expenditure on OEF has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply."
The watchdog outlined significant equipment losses sustained by the American fleet during the campaign, documenting four F-15 fighter aircraft destroyed, one F-35 stealth fighter damaged, seven KC-135 refuelling tankers damaged, and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones shot down.
Fleet losses
US President Donald Trump has brushed aside concerns regarding depleted weapon stores.
Writing on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump reiterated that American factories are producing "more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History."
However, reports have highlighted that acute shortages of long-range precision-guided missiles and air-defence interceptors have constrained military planning against Iran, with US forces having exhausted nearly 80 percent of their THAAD missile interceptor inventories.
During the opening 24 hours of the conflict, US Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted strikes against more than 1,000 targets—a scale of bombardment the military has not repeated in subsequent months.
The watchdog added that Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of facilities across US installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan.
Those reconstruction costs were excluded from the headline budget, as officials evaluate whether damaged sites will be rebuilt and who will fund the operations.
