"Punch after punch to the face": The distress of the US Army in Europe and the fear of Russia
According to the AP news agency, the US Army is facing a critical shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe following the fighting in Iran. The shortage raises concerns about the vulnerability of NATO countries in the event of a Russian attack.
The United States Army is facing a critical shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe, mainly following the war that President Donald Trump launched against Iran. This was reported by the AP news agency, citing a US security official stationed in Europe and a NATO official.
The shortage raises concerns about the vulnerability of alliance countries in the event of a possible Russian attack. According to the US official, the most worrying shortage is in Patriot system interceptors, which are capable of shooting down fast Russian ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed that the stock of Patriot interceptors of US forces and alliance countries in Europe is low. Both spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the military information.
In the event of a Russian ballistic missile attack on a target such as a military headquarters or a power station, NATO could find itself in a situation similar to that of Ukraine, which suffers from a shortage of Patriot interceptors.
"NATO would be forced to take punch after punch to the face," the US official said.
According to him, the US Army in Europe "definitely" does not have enough Patriot interceptors to stop a prolonged ballistic missile attack. "Its ability to defend against even a single attack or against a stray Russian missile that deviates from its course would be very limited," he clarified.
A few days ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that his country recently received interceptors for the Patriot system. Since the beginning of the war with Russia, the United States has directly transferred two full Patriot batteries to Ukraine (the first was approved in December 2022 and the second in June 2024), alongside dozens of ongoing shipments of interceptor missiles as part of military aid packages.
About a month ago, senior Trump administration officials decided not to expand the military campaign against Iran due to the fear of a dangerous depletion of the stock of Patriot interceptors and other air defense assets of the US Army in the Middle East.
According to a report by "The New York Times," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Kane warned in internal discussions that while it is possible to renew a large-scale combat operation against Iran, such a move could dangerously deplete the stock of interceptors available to the Central Command.
