U.S. says Patriot interceptor stocks in Europe are “beyond critical”

The U.S. military is experiencing a "beyond critical" shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump's war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.

The US military is running critically low on Patriot missile interceptors in Europe as the war with Iran drains stocks, according to US and NATO officials. The shortfall is raising concerns about NATO’s ability to counter a potential Russian ballistic missile attack, though officials said no such assault is imminent.

The U.S. military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a U.S. defense official…

The Iran war has gravely exacerbated the U.S. military’s advanced missile interceptor shortage in Europe.The shortage is “beyond critical,” as supplies have been quickly and unexpectedly drained by the Iran war, according to a Europe-based U.S. defense official as well as a NATO official that spoke with the Associated Press Thursday.The deficit is most serious for the country’s Patriot missile interceptors, which are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles and aircraft but have been heavily relied upon during the war to stave off Iran’s Shahed swarming attack drones.The deficit boils down to a supply chain problem. Iran’s drones are small, simple to manufacture, and cost roughly $20,000 to produce. They can be launched from almost anywhere, and use GPS to find their target. They’re typically launched en masse to overwhelm opposing defense systems.Each Patriot missile, meanwhile, costs between $3 million and $4 million per unit. An entire Patriot battery system can cost as much as $1.1 billion, including the launcher, radar, and missiles. As a result of the missiles’ enormous price tag, production of America’s highly sought-after Patriot system is relatively slow compared to its demand. In 2025, Lockheed Martin created 620 units of the Patriot missile. Iran, in comparison, is capable of producing about 10,000 drones per month, reported Reuters.U.S. missile stockpiles were transferred from Europe to the Middle East to aid the war effort, but that has left NATO and American forces based in Europe empty-handed in the face of a potential Russian attack on the continent. The U.S. defense official told the AP that the situation could force America or its European allies “to take punch after punch in the mouth” should the Kremlin decide to launch an assault on a regional military base or nuclear facility.European and NATO officials have warned that Russia could be in a strategic position to attack the alliance by 2030—though defense contractors have projected that America’s Patriot missile stockpiles should rebound by that point.Russia has been involved all along: just over one week into the conflict in March, The Washington Post reported that Russia had funnelled military intelligence to Iran to assist the country in targeting U.S. forces. Afterward, Iran systematically destroyed U.S. missile defense systems across the Middle East, including radars and command infrastructure. In the early days of the war, an Iranian drone attack on a Kuwait operations center killed six U.S. soldiers and seriously wounded dozens more.Meanwhile, the Trump administration has rejected opportunities to buy tech that could have given U.S. forces a dramatic advantage in the war. Kyiv offered its expertise, as Ukraine has more experience fighting Shaheds than practically any other country, downing the same design under Russia’s flag (Russia rebranded the military tech as “Geran drones”). But the Trump administration passed.However, the White House has expressed little public concern over the rising tensions. Speaking with reporters Thursday, Donald Trump said that he recently had “good talks” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that he believed Putin’s “not going to be attacking.”

The U.S. military is experiencing a "beyond critical" shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump's war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.

A U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles.