US has used 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war, sources say
The U.S. Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran, according to three people familiar with the data, raising concerns about the military's readiness for future conflicts.
The missiles are principally the Army's surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The U.S. has used "virtually all" of these weapons, according to two of the sources.
The degree to which the military is running out of ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles has not been previously reported.
The long-range munitions are an important part the military's arsenal, allowing accurate strikes from a safe distance. U.S.-supplied ATACMS have played a key role in the war in Ukraine, allowing Ukrainian forces to attack targets inside Russia. The PrSM is a newer, more advanced generation that will replace the ATACMS, which have a shorter range.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-has-used-virtually-all-its-long-range-precision-missiles-during-iran-war-2026-08-04/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
88 replies
I just read the prologue for The Enemy Within don't spoil the rest of the story
Why do I have a terrible sneaking suspicion, propaganda or not, that this will be used as an excuse.
Rumors are floating that Russia is toying with making a move on Poland, or perhaps a smaller NATO member. One theory is they're just posturing to detract from the situation with Ukraine and appear strong. Despite this, Ukraine relies heavily on assistance from EU/NATO countries for supplies/money. Even mildly credible threats may force some of those countries to scale back some assistance and focus on internal efforts, which impacts Ukraine's supply chain.
How does this tie in with the US? If a NATO country is attacked and goes Article 5...the US might try to use this as an excuse for lack of significant aid.
They’ll just print money and pay Lockheed Martin to build a shit ton more
Americans are idiots for allowing this debt on their ledger.
You think we actually vote on it? Both parties bomb the shit out of other countries
One man's shortage is another man's bounty.
Mockheed Lartin is loving this.
No they haven't. This is propaganda 101. Do you REALLY think they're advertising their actual supply and production capacity?
These types of lies were the backbone of the Russia strategy, let the Russians advance, deplete themselves while we ramp up our production, then they not only won't be able to defend their gains but they'll have to retreat.
All the while having provoked them so we can use Ukraine as a bulwark and voluntary cannon fodder. Wadn't us, it's them!
Don't fall for it, these people are trained killers and do it for a living. They know what they're doing and they're running out of missiles like the US is running out of active shooters.
What do you think the goal of this propaganda would be? If it's not true, and enemies of the US believe it is, that they attack isolated US bases on in other nations? To what benefit?
The scientists and experts in most things throughout most of the US government that had the spine and integrity to stand up to blatant bullshit, lies, and crimes were either fired or resigned. That includes high ranking military who would refuse illegal orders. What's left is a mountain of the least capable and most corrupt willing to bend the knee and kiss the ass.
You genuinely think if Trump kept insisting on something this stupid they would refuse his orders? Or that Trump isn't stupid enough to insist? Or that he takes heed to wise counsel?
No I think this is true. Some "defense industry" people play magic at my LGS and they've been talking about this obliquely.
Your friends are complicit in war crimes.
Literally never said they were my friends. But thanks for assuming my life and moralizing my choices.
So glad we’ve been spending billions building and stockpiling these things for my entire life, only to run out after [checks notes] six months of bullshit that accomplished nothing.
Turns out giving a low IQ pedo the keys to the kingdom isn't such a great idea.
Really wish conservatives/regressives weren't so painfully stupid/bigoted.
Time to buy Lockhead Martin and Raytheon stocks before they hand the resupply bill to the Dems after midterms! /s ?
Nah. Lockheed makes both the ATACMS and the PrSM.
Ooooo....a one stop shop!
What would conservatives/regressives be doing if they weren't wasting all our money on things that don't benefit Americans?
It's almost like we should be voting for the other side that's proven to be better regarding our tax dollars and economy as a whole. But I guess we could keep voting for the side that's openly bigoted and really, really bad at managing money. You know, for the lols.
Being bigoted is a feature for the regressives.
Capitalism compromises national security.
And accomplished sweet fuck all
They accomplished a lot:
The dismantling of the American empire is proceeding according to plan.
Don't forget that stockpiled weapons don't make any profit. You have to use them to create the need to make more. And make the military industrial complex more money. And those who speculate on those same companies.
This kinda sounds like that "smashing bones/windows economically supports doctors / glaziers." economic thought experiment. I'm sure somebody knows what I'm talking about. Vague recollection lol.
Underrated comment. A lot of people don't realize it's only about money and always has been; the kleptocrats ruining this country only care about one thing: line must go up
Except murdering children in their school. This fuckup should be attached to any title that involves Iran war.
Which was not an accident since they were "precision missiles"
Third hand info, but I heard on a podcast a few months back that the building had been an irgc hideout... like 10 months prior. With the administration's complete knob-gobbling of AI, and no assets on the ground to provide updated intel, it's likely that the AI said "shoot that one", no one bothered to check before pushing the button, and the fathers and brothers of 150 little girls became all the more radicalized against the US.
So I wrote that, then decided to do more research than the DOD did and double-check things.
It's worse than I wrote.
It was an IRGC building adjacent to an IRGC compound... in 2016. (the podcaster misspoke and said months instead of years)
[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/mar/26/ai-got-the-blame-for-the-iran-school-bombing-the-truth-is-far-more-worrying](This article from The Guardian) details it quite well.
It's just exposing how the weapons belong to a dead end tech tree. The future of war is getting fragged by dollar store drones.
Honestly I don't think that's what we're looking at. This is closer to what happened with machine guns and then later tanks during WW1 and WW2. What we're looking at is a cavalry charge getting shredded by a machine gun and saying mobile warfare is dead, meanwhile the British and French are doing tank R&D.
This happens every couple of decades and lasts about a decade before proper counters can be developed, mind you it's still busted as shit until said counters appear but still.
I can't wait for the weapons industry to unveil the next man made horror beyond my comprehension they'll think of to counter drone swarms
In this particular case it'll probably be something we already have just cheaper and more specified. Personally my money is on automated AA designed for drones specifically using relatively cheap parts and firing cheap munitions like small caliber rounds to detonate drone payloads. Will probably still cost a hundred bucks or two but that's well within acceptable costs if they work well enough.
Things are so bleak my mind automatically answered "decoy conscripts."
Count on the army to refer to their missiles as "attack 'em"s.
Somebody was eating the Omega3-enriched crayons the day they came up with that
Assuming they were smart enough to eat them and not shove them up their nose.
This just means we will transition to cheaper less accurate ordinance, killing even more innocent civilians.
That jives with the underlying class war objectives.
This is what you get when you have an incompetent president whose only "strategy" is to use the military as an extension of his angry outbursts and an equally incompetent secretary of "war" who also believes the only thing necessary to solve the world's problems is an army full of testosterone laden christian warriors let loose with full abandon. And if it diminishes America's standing in the world or its ability to defend itself, all the better.
Weird. It's almost like you just described traitors to the United States of America.
Becoming clear that the military industrial complex is actually a very badly diaguised kleptocracy, not that I like either option.
The Pentagon has never passed a budget audit. They had 8. This video explains is quite well. https://youtu.be/T9IV09cvXx4
That's been obvious for nearly 26 years now
The billionaires need to pony up now so we can build more.
You know that's not how this works
There is simply no productive capacity for it. You can spend however many billions you want, but dollars don't magically turn into factories or rare earth metals.
That doesn't mean you can't order and pay for them
Yeah, the one thing this Admin can't hide at the end of the day is how much money has been evaporated between the war and whatever financial schemes they've enacted along the way. Hope the Repubs love paying for that
It wont be an issue unless the dems get the house and/senate.
And if that happens the Republicans will spend the next however long it takes them to win it back loudly demanding the Democrats somehow eliminate the deficit and cut any program the Republicans don't like (I.E. anything that helps people instead of lining the pockets of the oligarchs).
I will never not use the opportunity to post this: https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/thom-hartmann/two-santas-strategy-gop-used-economic-scam-manipulate-americans-40-years/
The flip side of this, of course, is that the Democrats need to be incompetent enough and/or complicit enough to keep falling for it.
And the Democrat who's elected will be at best a centrist DINO who won't do anything to move the needle, playing into the eventuality of a Trump 3.0.
Trump probably won't live long enough for a non-consecutive Trump 3.0, let alone have the mental capacity to even pretend he can do it. It'll be MAGA (or neo-MAGA), but not Trump. To be clear, this is the worst case scenario because American democracy wouldn't survive an afternoon in the hands of someone smart in Trump's position.
I keep telling myself the following:
And some idiot commenter a while back said the EU couldn't survive war with the US.... Dude, almost every backwater country survived and essentially hadn't even lost.... I'm sure the US would be unconquerable if anyone invaded them IF the had their shit together for sure. But they will never win wars again, and they are far more likely to kill themselves at this rate too. I believe WW3 would lead to the second civil war in the US. Hell I think the US going to get there with or without Russian and Chinese manipulation of their government at this rate.
Lol rice farmers held out against the U.S.
It's a good thing we still live in a world where there's a rule of law and we don't have enemies that might take advantage of our military weakness and like attack us or something
That's okie, the US plebery will foot the bill for new ones, no big deal.
Source: Pete Kegseth keeps drunktexting reporters when he's schlammered
How much does this reduce security for Americans locally? Like are we more likely to be invaded because of this or is it just the waste of resources we should be mad about?
Nobody's going to invade the US from the outside, you can sleep tight. Completely pointless to even try, y'all are protected by geography before the expensive military even comes into consideration.
Canada and Mexico are the only countries that could invade without being completely bogged down by super long supply lines. Both added together still have a much smaller population than the US. And the US has mountains which can be leveraged to slow down enemy advances.
Let's say the US finds itself without any allies whatsoever. It would take Canada + Mexico + multiple large, well-equipped countries with large navies to have any real hope of getting the US to surrender. Canada, Mexico and China at the very least, someone would also have to come from the Atlantic side with a large navy. It would have to be from all 4 sides, not necessarily at once either - get the US to concentrate the forces to either the atlantic or pacific coast, then surprise them from the other side with an even larger force.
Basically pointless to try, nobody is this stupid. The US is more likely to have an internal coup.
You are probably right, b ur bu really wonder how the drone + ai situation really changes the economics.
The situations in Iran and Ukraine are very eye opening and I worry the us military is way more focused on big strong boats.
Hawaii could be in trouble, but odds are they'd be better off under new management anyway
These are ground attack missiles. Not used for defense.
Also not used against aircraft or ships
Well if the goal was to stop talking about the Epstein files then I would say mission accomplished.
i love broadcasting opsec to the world through social media.
really makes me feel like we have this shit under control, ya know?
I'm having trouble deciding if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
It would have been better for Ukraine to use them against Russia.
On the other hand, now it's less likely trump will start another war.
I am not convinced.
Well, i did say LESS likely, not UNLIKELY.
He's really good at doing stupid things that other people pay the price for. And the midterms are about 3 months away. So it's almost time for another distraction.
The october surprise should be fun. And by "fun" I mean "what the fuck is it now?"
Cue Micro Rube-io clamoring for the dismantling of the ICC and ratcheting up his "international left-wing antifa terrorist" rhetoric to not only go after anyone left of MAGA, but also cancel the midterms by declaring a state of emergency due to "terrorism".
Why wouldn't you allow them some success at least? The US military might not be able wo win any actual war but against their mostly complacent "we will only protest every few months on a weekend to not inconvenience anyone"-population they might be enough.
He recently said Greenland will defiantly be under US control before he leaves office
We still need him to completely decimate the world's oil production. Can't give up now.
Honestly, I think it would be a good idea to bomb both the Saudi and Iranian oil fields. Let’s just get this over with. That’s where it’s going to end up anyway.
The ground missiles are near out but bombs and icbms and air to ground munitions are still in stock. They could decide to b52 carpet bomb too.
B52s and carpet bombing? Not with the Chinese MANPADS making their way to the battlefield. There is a reason B52's aren't being used in Iran. They are already dropping reaper drones like swatting flies. And ICBMS are super expensive, and it's hard to tell if you are starting a nuclear war of just attacking Cuba.
https://abcnews.com/Politics/iran-shot-30-us-reaper-drones-us-official/story?id=134597622
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-portable_air-defense_system
I don't doubt it but it's the big orange idiot in charge. That does randomize it a bit. I mean what's kept him from making stupid decisions so far?
There is a thread elsewhere on how the gop is beginning to realize that maybe an army of shallow but loyal conservative idiots may not be a good idea.
The trump White House is sure proving it.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/08/01/heritage-foundation-young-republicans-groypers-hiring-01006937
100% a good thing. Ukraine having them would be best, but failing that at least they're out of the hands of the US war machine.
Those missiles could have been put to an actual use, like arming Ukraine.
Oh bot I sure love living in Taiwan right now
Stupid has taken over America.
The stupid is not a new thing here.
This is the type of misinformation. You don’t start a trillion dollar private military contract industry in for profit capitalism and lose profit.
What even is this comment? What profits have been lost if these were munitions ALREADY SOLD to the military? If anything this is going to funnel even MORE $ towards defense contractors to renew supply.