US fires up to 70 interceptors against Iran attack on Jordan, putting supplies under pressure

The US military fired as many as 70 or more high-end air-defense interceptors last week to counter an Iranian missile attack targeting US forces in Jordan, according to US and regional officials familiar with the matter. The scale of the response highlights Iran’s growing ability to challenge American air defenses and force the US military to expend costly interceptors at a rapid pace.

US forces launched between 60 and 70 Patriot interceptors against an Iranian barrage of roughly 20 ballistic missiles, officials said. The US also fired more than a dozen Thaad interceptors, according to one official. Another official said the expenditure was comparable to what the US had used over an entire week at other points during the war.

The exchange illustrates a fundamental challenge in missile defense: the attacker can often force the defender to spend multiple interceptors against a smaller number of incoming weapons. Iran appears to have adapted its tactics specifically to increase the pressure on US defenses. The latest attack was particularly difficult to counter because Iranian missiles were equipped with warheads capable of separating into multiple projectiles as they approached their targets, according to officials.

Despite the extensive defensive response, not every projectile was intercepted. No US troops were killed in the attack, but Iranian missiles reportedly struck fighter jets and other aircraft at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, one official said. Iranian missile attacks have become increasingly sophisticated throughout the war. US officials say Tehran has experimented with different missile types, flight paths, maneuvers and warhead configurations in an effort to overwhelm American and allied defenses.

In July, an Iranian missile attack on Jordan killed three US servicemembers. US officials have said Iran obtained high-resolution satellite imagery of the base from Chinese entities before that strike, according to officials familiar with the incident. US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, declined to comment. Jordanian officials also declined to comment. “Reports suggesting that the United States’ munitions are depleted are completely false,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. “The U.S. military remains the strongest and most capable fighting force in the world.”

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President Trump said on Monday on social media that the US maintains large numbers of interceptors in its stockpiles and is increasing production. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of Patriot interceptors, produced a record 620 interceptors in 2025 and has set a target of producing approximately 2,000 annually. At the same time, a new report from the Defense Department’s inspector general said the war “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.”

The conflict has created a race between Iran’s ability to produce and launch ballistic missiles and the US military’s supply of interceptors capable of stopping them. Iran has reportedly recovered missiles from underground facilities that were targeted by US strikes earlier in the war. Tehran has also recently restarted missile production using parts held in stockpiles.

The latest Iranian attacks on Jordan followed an escalating cycle of military exchanges. Tehran has sought to counter increasing US economic pressure. After Iranian missiles came close to US warships in the region, the US military responded by destroying five Iranian oil tankers. Iran subsequently attacked US troops in Jordan, targeting a location it had repeatedly struck during the summer.