US Critical Missile Shortage, Russia Monitors Stockpile
Washington presses arms companies to urgently increase production as Congress blocks budgets and aid to Ukraine collapses
The United States is facing an unprecedented depletion of its missile arsenal. Intelligence reports indicate that Russia is closely monitoring the situation and is taking a keen interest in vulnerabilities in American military stockpiles. In response, the Pentagon has sent an ultimatum to leading defense companies demanding that they immediately accelerate weapons production. However, the crisis is being exacerbated by political clashes in Congress and has led to a drastic freeze on key arms supplies to Ukraine.
Moscow analyzes gaps in US defense
According to information published by the authoritative publication The New York Times (nytimes.com/2026/08/08/us/politics/pentagon-weapons-stockpiles-china-russia.html), US intelligence agencies have found that the Kremlin is actively studying the state of US missile stocks. The prolonged conflict with Iran has seriously depleted critical Pentagon assets, including precision missiles and air defense systems.
Analysts note that Russian military planners are revising their assessments of US capabilities. The evidence suggests that Washington is slowing down its pace of production, which is changing Moscow’s perception of its own power vis-à-vis NATO. Russia is currently producing ballistic missiles faster than the West is delivering interceptors (nytimes.com/live/2026/world/iran-war-trump-talks-pakistan).
Pentagon issues ultimatum to business, Congress takes a knife to the money
At the same time The Washington Post (subsequently confirmed by agencies at the link: abcnews.com/US/wireStory/pentagon-pushes-defense-companies-boost-weapons-production-after-135493835) revealed a memorandum sent by US Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg. The letter, addressed to giants such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and RTX, gives the companies 21 days to submit plans to dramatically expand factories and accelerate deliveries.
“Years-long development cycles are not acceptable. We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now“, Feinberg wrote in the document, quoted by the media. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the authenticity of the memo and said its findings would feed directly into the U.S. defense budget for fiscal year 2028.
However, large-scale production is in doubt. The $1.15 trillion defense bill remains completely blocked in Congress. Lawmakers have refused to approve White House requests to increase Pentagon spending to $1.5 trillion, unhappy with Trump's military actions in the Middle East. Because of this political deficit, numerous “framework agreements” (framework agreements) with manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman remain unfunded legal frameworks without real contracts.
Strike on Ukraine: Patriot Systems Meltdown
The shortage of anti-missile weapons has already directly affected Kiev’s security. Due to critically low levels of the national stockpile, the Trump administration has temporarily halted the transfer of new air defense missiles to Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has again sounded the alarm about an acute shortage of interceptors after massive Russian ballistic and hypersonic attacks hit Kiev, without a single missile being shot down by Ukraine’s depleted air defenses (russiamatters.org/news/russia-review/russia-review-july-31-aug-7-2026).
When asked if the US would send new Patriot missiles and long-range systems to Ukraine, President Donald Trump responded directly: “We need missiles for ourselves, too“ (open.kg/en/news/in-the-world/114426-tramp-soobschil-o-nehvatke-raket-dlja-dopolnitelnyh-postavok-ukraine.html). Trump accused the administration of former President Joe Biden of emptying US arsenals by transferring billions in weapons to Kiev before January 2025.
How seriously depleted is the US arsenal?
Statistics from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank show critical stockpile levels:
- Patriot systems: The US military's global inventory has fallen by more than 65% – from 2,330 missiles before the conflict to just 759 - 827 at the end of July 2026.
- THAAD Systems: High-altitude missile defense system stockpiles have decreased by at least 38% – from 452 to less than 278 units available.
- Precision Weapons: Spent “almost all“ global stockpiles of advanced long-range precision ATACMS missiles and tactical PrSM complexes.
Although Trump denies the crisis in Truth Social and claims that the stockpiles are “massive“, he admitted to the Wall Street Journal that with certain systems the situation is “more tense“. According to CSIS experts, the US will need at least 3 to 5 years (by the end of 2029 or 2030) to restore the spent ammunition and close the dangerous window of vulnerability in which Russia is so interested.