You Need a Strong Industry to Do Anything: Russia Is a Big Winner As Iranian Missiles Deplete U.S. Interceptors

“Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades, as Iranian missiles deplete stocks of the Patriot interceptors that Ukraine needs for its defense.

 

Even before the Iran campaign, production bottlenecks in the U.S.-made Patriot system had drained Ukraine reserves and left European allies on yearslong waiting lists. Those shortfalls have allowed Russia to punch through gaps in Ukraine's air defenses, devastating its power infrastructure.

 

The U.S. and Gulf states have fired hundreds of interceptors in the opening days of the war to repel Iranian missile and drone barrages. Gulf states possess only days' worth of interceptors under sustained attack, analysts estimate, potentially forcing Washington to pull from other stockpiles, weakening its forward posture elsewhere.

 

Iran had fired more than 500 ballistic missiles and 2,000 drones since the start of the campaign, Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said Wednesday.

 

He said the U.S. has sufficient munitions for the Iran operation.

 

Lockheed Martin's 2025 U.S. output of its most advanced interceptor, the PAC-3, was just over 600. At least two Patriot interceptors are typically required to destroy a single ballistic missile -- often followed by a third or more if the first pair fail. Production of a single, multimillion-dollar interceptor is limited and can take months.

 

"For us, this is a matter of life," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the interceptors. He said Monday he had contacted European partners financing Ukraine's supplies to ask whether the Iran conflict would further restrict deliveries.

 

The biggest threat to Ukraine are Russia's ballistic missile strikes, and the only solution is the Patriot system, said Col. Pavlo Yelizarov, deputy chief of Ukraine's air force.

 

Russia is able to produce around 80 ballistic missiles a month, according to Ukrainian and Western intelligence.

 

Ukraine's air force estimates it needs at least 60 PAC-3 interceptors a month just to keep pace with Russian attacks.” [1]

 

1. World News: Russia Is a Big Winner As Iranian Missiles Deplete U.S. Interceptors. Pancevski, Bojan; Hinshaw, Drew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 05 Mar 2026: A5.