The Pentagon is moving to sharply increase its purchases of key interceptor and precision-strike missiles after months of conflict with Iran depleted stockpiles that defense officials say are also needed to deter China, according to budget documents reviewed by Fox News.
Army budget documents show PAC-3 MSE interceptor procurement, used in Patriot missile defense systems, at 230 missiles in fiscal 2024, 214 in fiscal 2025 and a baseline request of 320 in fiscal 2026. Separately, those same budget records show the Army Requirements Oversight Council raised its longer-term acquisition objective for the missile, a cumulative program target distinct from any single year’s purchase order, from 3,376 to 13,773 in April 2025, more than quadrupling the Army’s overall requirement. That revision predates the most recent escalation with Iran.
THAAD interceptor targets show a similar trajectory, rising from 37 total interceptors sought in fiscal 2026 to a fiscal 2027 target of 857, which would be funded through a combination of 27 discretionary interceptors and 830 interceptors funded through the Munitions Acceleration Council, a Pentagon initiative aimed at speeding up munitions production.
The buildup follows a five-month conflict with Iran during which the Army expended what officials described as “virtually all” of its Army Tactical Missile System and Precision Strike Missile inventories, according to defense analysts tracking the drawdown. The Navy separately requested roughly $3 billion this spring, enough to fund an estimated 785 Tomahawk cruise missiles compared with 58 missiles funded the prior year, to replenish stocks depleted in the conflict’s early weeks, Fox News reported; the request predates the bulk of the five-month campaign and may not reflect the full cost of replenishment to date.
Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery said the shortfall reflects a long-term pattern rather than a sudden crisis. “The problem is 25 years of not buying enough munitions,” Montgomery said.
Defense officials and analysts have connected the depleted stockpiles to broader readiness concerns involving China, which maintains the world’s largest conventional ballistic and cruise missile arsenal. Jim Fein, a researcher at the Heritage Foundation, said the shortages reflect the consequences of past budget decisions. “Budget tradeoffs obviously lead to hard choices, and it now looks like many of those past decisions were wrong,” Fein said.
The procurement targets are still subject to congressional approval as part of the fiscal 2027 defense budget process. Lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services committees are expected to review the Army and Navy’s replenishment requests in the coming weeks as part of broader deliberations over overall defense spending levels.
