‘A Sobering Picture’ of Military Readiness
While Leftmedia talkingheads fret about the number of missiles fired in Iran, The Heritage Foundation issues a much broader report on the Armed Forces.
As Operation Epic Fury continues, some folks worry that the U.S. military will soon run low on munitions — especially missile interceptors. Obviously, the U.S. must finish the fight strong, and the sooner the better.
Strategically, the commander-in-chief and everyone down the chain of command will hedge on how many Patriot missiles and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors we have in stock. It would be foolish to tell our enemies, Yeah, we’re running low.
So, it’s no surprise that President Donald Trump boasted of a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions with which we could fight a war “forever.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth echoed that from another angle. “The enemy can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did. Not even close,” he told reporters. “Iran cannot outlast us.”
On a related note, NBC News reports, “The U.S. will begin to focus on taking out Iran’s missile launchers and other military capabilities that could be used to retaliate against U.S. and Israeli strikes. Doing so could reduce some of the need for American defensive weaponry.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan “Raizin” Caine added, “We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense. … I know there’s been a great debate about that, and I appreciate the interest, but just know that we consider that an operational security matter.”
Clearly, there are limits to our munitions, and the U.S. aims to ramp up manufacturing to ensure we remain strong. But the concern of Leftmedia pontificators is not the state of the military so much as it is making Trump look weak and unprepared.
In any case, let’s zoom out to 75,000 feet and consider the overall status of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The Heritage Foundation does that with its 2026 Index of U.S. Military Strength, the eleventh edition of what it says is “the only independent, comprehensive diagnostic analysis of the United States military that assesses the state of the armed forces of the United States in the context of the global operating and threat environment.”
Its introduction begins with a warning: “As currently postured, the United States military is at significant risk of being unable to defend America’s vital national interests. Decades of underfunding, prolonged deployments, inconsistent appropriations, poor discipline in program execution, and a lack of urgency across the national security establishment have made the U.S. military unable to respond effectively to the range of growing threats.”
Similarly, Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, says, “After years of underinvestment and overuse, the U.S. military risks being unable to deter — or defeat — near-peer adversaries in a protracted conflict.”
The only near-peer forces in the world are Russia and China. Russia is, of course, bogged down in year five of its invasion of Ukraine, where it’s showing itself to be less capable than many had assumed. China, however, has been increasingly hostile and could very well cause serious trouble in Taiwan. According to the Index, “The People’s Republic of China represents the greatest military threat facing the United States today.”
As our Thomas Gallatin explains today, countering China is a big reason for taking out the Islamist thugs running Iran. The two nations are allied in important ways, posing serious national security risks to the United States. Spending munitions blowing up the mullahs and their ships could be well worth the deterrence effect on Beijing.
While the Heritage report is stern, it holds hope. Greenway says that, for the first time in the 11 years of this report, researchers found “an arrest of decline” in military capabilities. In other words, the Trump administration has stopped the slide in our military and is moving it in the right direction.
The military is not going to telegraph weakness to the enemy. In a similar fashion, The Heritage Foundation has an objective behind its report: strengthening the U.S. military to the maximum possible. That may not happen with a report that gives five stars across the board. That’s not to say the urgency is manipulative; there are real threats facing the U.S., and there are real needs in capability.
It is to say that the Pentagon has a responsibility to the American people to use its budget as effectively as possible. There is absolutely a fair amount of bloat and overly sweet deals for defense contractors in the Pentagon’s budget. Trump, Hegseth, and crew will best serve U.S. interests by focusing on readiness in every base, ship, and munitions box.
