Last week, a missile attack hit Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, injuring soldiers and damaging several aircraft, including a valuable E-3 Sentry. On Saturday and Sunday, there was a wave of attacks during which up to 40 rockets were fired, roughly double the daily average. This follows from the official reports of the attacked countries, which are not completely complete.
The high consumption of air defense is related to the “shoot-shoot-look” strategy, when at least two missiles are fired at each target by default and only then is the hit evaluated. This means that even more than the mentioned 2,400 anti-aircraft missiles could have actually been used during the war.
The vast majority of them were Patriot PAC-3 and GEM-T missiles, of which the Persian Gulf countries had less than 2,800 before the war. Bloomberg reports the information based on data from the Office of Foreign Arms Sales (FMS) and estimates by several experts and sources familiar with the situation.
“Without the active support of the US, most countries would have nothing to defend themselves against Iranian missiles,” said Kelly Grieco, senior researcher at the Stimson Center think tank. The US Department of Defense said it has all the ammunition it needs to complete its missions. FMS documents show how many missiles were requested or approved, but fewer may have been delivered.
