Mastodawn

US has fired 850 Tomahawk missiles into Iran - leaving some officials concerned about dwindling supply

https://lemmy.world/post/44827189

US has fired 850 Tomahawk missiles into Iran - leaving some officials concerned about dwindling supply - Lemmy.World

The rate at which the U.S. military has used the Tomahawk missiles in the Iran war has reportedly prompted internal talks about increasing supplies Some Pentagon officials are concerned about the “alarmingly low” supply of Tomahawk missiles remaining in the U.S. military’s arsenal after firing 850 of the weapons into Iran, according to a report. The rate at which the U.S. military has used the Tomahawk missiles in President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, now in its fourth week, has prompted internal talks about increasing supplies, according to The Washington Post. U.S. officials told the newspaper that the number of Tomahawks left in the Middle East was “alarmingly low.” Another official told the outlet that the U.S. supply of Tomahawks was closing in on “Winchester,” military slang that means almost out of ammunition.

Assassassin 3d ago

Per the Wikipedia article nuclear weapons of the United states:

The US holds in total 5,177 warheads, of which 3,700 are stockpiled, and 1,477 are awaiting dismantlement. Of the stockpile, 1,770 are deployed, while 1,930 are held in reserve.

Do we seriously have more nukes than tomahawks??? This reporting has to be incorrect.

Nuclear weapons of the United States - Wikipedia

RamRabbit 2d ago

Tomahawk is just one weapon system. It isn’t even our only cruise missile system. JASSM, LRASM, Harpoon, and SLAM are all in-service cruise missiles used by the US. And those are just off the top of my head.

If you want to get into one-way attack drones (ie, cheap cruise missiles), we have things like LUCAS as well.

AGM-158 JASSM - Wikipedia

RememberTheApollo_3d ago

Spend billons on more bombs while global economic collapse looms.

humanspiral 2d ago

It’s the only way to be sure.

So, apparently there’s a term that’s used in the defence industry for advanced, extremely capable, very expensive weapons: “exquisite weapons”. This sounds like something out of a fantasy RPG, but it’s actually the term they use in the industry to talk about these things, the Tomahawk being one of them.

So, while Iran is hitting various sites around the middle east with machines that cost about the same as a small car and are built in a basic factory, the US is spending 100x as much, building missiles in special high-tech factories using clean rooms and high end robots. Not only that, but the weapons the US is using to intercept Iran’s drones cost about 100x as much as the drones they’re shooting down.

dandelion 3d ago

this mostly makes me think of rimworld, tbh

jabberwock 3d ago

Hey now, the US has its own low-cost drone reverse engineered from an Iranian one-way attack drone.

Does that mean they’ll stop building Tomahawks? Of course not, now two companies can benefit instead of one. That’s 2x the military-industrial complex baby!

Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System - Wikipedia

RamRabbit 2d ago

Additionally, it’s why GBUs exist. They are inexpensive and in wide-use by the US military.

GBU-12 Paveway II - Wikipedia

j_elgato 3d ago

Jesus… How many schools did they have??

SkaveRat 3d ago

850

metakrakalaka 3d ago

AI says these cost $1.3 million each on the low end.

That’s at least another billion dollars wasted on Israel that could’ve been spent helping Americans.

some_designer_dude 3d ago

I cannot imagine there’s actually $1.3M of anything in these missiles. They’re probably a few grand and then about $1.3M of mark-up.

Corkyskog 2d ago

There is over a grand of just silver in the things at current spot prices.

humanspiral 2d ago

They cost closer to $4m each.

meathorse 3d ago

Trump is preparing the us for invasion. Invasion by Russia. Exhaust the military supplies, run the world’s fuel supply dry so that tanks etc are useless and no one can come help, then Russia, still flush with oil can walk in with their remaining hardware unopposed

spacesatan 2d ago

I’m getting poe’s lawed by this comment. I genuinely can’t tell if this is supposed to be funny or if this is something your median .world user is ready to accept as true.

Do they live in a world where Russia could be preparing a ground invasion of the US? Fucked if I know.

YellowParenti 2d ago

Yeah, Russia can’t get into their neighbor. They lost their Navy to a country with NO NAVY. How are they going to project power into the US? However much it cost to put trump into power has returned a million fold investment. they dont have to do shit but keep investing in the incompetent ppl in the US government.

How are they going to project power into the US?

By corrupting the US government and using its assets against Russia’s other enemies.

Not every power play has to be millitary. Remember that Putin was KGB and understands very well how control and manipulation work.

Crackhappy 2d ago

I am sad that you are making a lot sense. I am happy that I have stocked up on ammo.

RamRabbit 2d ago

How is Russia supposed to invade the US? Russia can’t even take over their neighbor and Russia lost a huge portion of their Black Sea Fleet to a country that doesn’t even have a navy. If they can’t even do that, how do they land troops on a continent on the other side of the world, a continent protected by the world’s strongest navy and air force.

Russia doesn’t even have an aircraft carrier anymore…

azureskypirate 3d ago

They bombed a bunker months ago, now there’s a bunch of tomahawk missles deployed; Is The Dept. of War getting ideas from Top Gun: Maverick? /s

BarneyPiccolo 3d ago

Take away the /s. In the first term, Steve Mnuchin was…Treasury, I think. Anyway, he’s a movie producer, on the financing side. Look up his list of credits. The things you describe sound exactly like his kinds of movies. Mnuchin was probably encouraging Trump, so he could later make a movie about it “based on a true story.”

BarneyPiccolo 3d ago

They’re going to run out, and then every other country in the world will bomb the shit out of us.

RamRabbit 2d ago

then every other country in the world will bomb the shit out of us

Which countries are going to bomb the US, specifically? And why would starting a war with the US improve things for those countries?

Corkyskog 2d ago

The warmongering is insane. America is going to destroy itself economically with this war. No other countries really need to get involved.

JensSpahnpasta 2d ago

That really is the best opportunity for China to take Taiwan. Wait a little bit longer until stockpiles are empty and ground troops are deployed and then strike while the USA is occupied

BillCheddar 2d ago

Why would China bother?

China is about to become what America was: #1 country, #1 economy, with oil traded in their currency, with resources available across the globe.

China’s investments in Trump are about to pay off huge.

Why fuck with a winning hand by invading a small island when they can just keep doing what they’re doing, and let Taiwan make semiconductors for China, and collect all the benefits of being Top Dog?

Corkyskog 2d ago

Taiwan might be asking to join China to protect itself from perceived American aggression at this rate.

lechekaflan 2d ago

Once again, comedy gold for the Kremlin.

Right… that’s the concern here… dwindling supplies.

ILikeBoobies 2d ago

Imagine a world where the US ran out of bombs.

those are about 3 million each, in pre trump funds. Looks like tax paying Americans will all be emptying or wallets and cutting services to replace those now too. I hope Israel is happy with us and sends our politicians a tiny fraction of that amount in bribes.

anugeshtu 2d ago

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a gun nut or at all pro war, but why do they produce multimillion dollar missiles consisting of metal, fuel and explosives for that much for a one-way use instead of using that money to prevent wars? Well, call me a sweet summer child.

vaultdweller013 2d ago

Tomahawk missiles are meant to be used for high precision strikes, they’re basically the missile equivalent of a 50. cal sniper loaded with AP-I rounds which is to say explosive but deadly if you want someone or something annihilated. Problem is they’re using them like artillery or maybe a V-1 so of course it’s gonna be fucking expensive for no reason, to go back to my previous analogy it’s like using said sniper and ammo to hunt squirrels.

FinishingDutch 2d ago

It’s so silly. Those were made to be used ‘surgically’: to hit specific high value targets at extended range while minimising collateral damage. If you feel the need to use 850 of them, you’ve chosen the wrong weapon system: at that point, you should be flying B52’s over whatever you want to hit. Or turn Tehran into a glass parking lot.

Hanrahan 1d ago

who males the Tomahawk and are Trump’s kids long that stock?