The US military is reportedly considering redirecting weapons meant for Ukraine to the ongoing conflict in West Asia, sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
The war has drained some of the most coveted and scarcest ammunitions in the American arsenal, with the Pentagon seeing a 'real live discussion' on diverting air defence interceptor missiles.
The potential diversion includes Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) systems, which were ordered from manufacturers through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL).
The scale of ammunition consumption is staggering, with over 9,000 targets struck by US Central Command in four weeks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claiming that US-allied nations fired over 800 Patriot interceptor missiles in three days.
The Pentagon has notified Congress of its intention to divert $750 million in NATO-contributed PURL funding to restock its own military inventories, rather than send additional weapons to Ukraine.
The burn rate is estimated at $2 billion a day, with the Pentagon asking Congress for a supplemental budget of $200 billion to replenish missile stocks and sustain the campaign.
