US may struggle to intercept all Iranian drone attacks, officials warn
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Senior US military officials have warned lawmakers that the United States may not be able to intercept every drone launched by Iran as the conflict between the two countries intensifies.
During a classified briefing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, officials led by Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran has been deploying thousands of low-cost one-way attack drones in retaliation for US strikes. While American forces can intercept the majority of these drones, officials cautioned that stopping the entire barrage may not always be possible.
Iran has been using Shahed drones, which fly slowly and at low altitudes, making them harder to detect and intercept than ballistic missiles. The strategy appears aimed at overwhelming US air defences and forcing the military to expend expensive interceptor missiles.
According to officials familiar with the briefing, the US military has therefore focused on destroying drone and missile launch sites as quickly as possible to reduce the number of attacks.
A senior administration official said Iran’s strategy of attempting to drain US interceptor supplies was unlikely to succeed. The US has been using a mix of defensive systems to shoot down the drones, including interceptors from Patriot missile system batteries and THAAD.
However, the high volume of incoming attacks has raised concerns among lawmakers about the rapid use of advanced munitions. Officials said the United States initially spent around $2 billion per day in the early days of the conflict, though the cost has since dropped to about $1 billion per day.
Despite these concerns, General Caine publicly expressed confidence in US stockpile levels. “We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense,” he told reporters at the Pentagon.
US President Donald Trump also addressed the issue on social media, saying the country could sustain its current pace of operations indefinitely. He described US supplies of “medium and upper medium grade” weapons as “virtually unlimited,” though he acknowledged that the highest-end munitions were not at the desired levels.
At a White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the United States had ample weapons stockpiles to sustain a prolonged conflict with Iran. She added that some of the shortages stemmed from previous US military aid sent abroad in recent years.
