U.S. Tomahawks are being used in Iran war faster than stockpile is being refilled

Washington — The United States has used hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles so far against Iranaccording to two sources close to the matter, several times more than the number purchased each year for the military.

One of the sources said more than 850 had been used so far. in the conflicta figure that is about nine times the number of Tomahawks the Pentagon buys on average each year. This figure was first reported by the Washington Post.

The maximum production rate is estimated at 2,330 per year: three Raytheon contracts each have a capacity of 600 missiles and one BAE has a contract to produce up to 530 missiles per year, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which cites Pentagon budget documents.

However, the actual acquisition rate for the U.S. military is about 90 per year, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Navy has requested only 57 missiles for fiscal year 2026, according to Department of Defense budget documents.

In total, the Pentagon is estimated to have about 3,100 Tomahawk missiles in its inventory, according to Kelly Grieco, a senior researcher at the Stimson Center.

“It’s been recognized that we don’t have enough long-range strike capability, which is why we’ve tried to build up these stockpiles, but we continue to deplete them,” Grieco told CBS News.

Raytheon, or RTX, recently announced a framework agreement with the Department of Defense to produce up to 1,000 missiles per year for the United States over several years.

What is a Tomahawk missile and which US military services use them?

A Tomahawk cruise missile, launched from Navy destroyers and submarines, can travel more than 1,000 miles and strike with remarkable accuracy, even against targets protected by sophisticated air defenses. Developed during the Cold War and continually improved since, it has become one of the Pentagon’s most reliable long-range weapons.

The missile is primarily used by the U.S. Navy, but in recent years it has also been adopted by the Marine Corps and Army, reflecting a broader shift toward long-range precision weapons across the services. Allied armies, including the British Royal Navy, also use the system. No evidence has emerged suggesting that Iran uses or has obtained Tomahawk missiles.

According to Pentagon data, the Tomahawk has been flight tested more than 550 times and used operationally in more than 2,300 strikes, according to Raytheon, the defense manufacturer. In conflicts from Iraq to Syria and recently in the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, Tomahawks are often used as a weapon of first resort when U.S. commanders seek to hit distant or heavily defended targets without risking pilots.

How much do Tomahawks cost?

Costs can vary depending on which version of the Tomahawk the United States purchases, but the missile costs about $2.2 million and a launcher costs more than $6 million for ground-based versions. Tomahawks launched by the US Navy from destroyers or submarines are capable of striking moving ships and can cost more than $4 million.

Tomahawks are just one of the advanced munitions used by the United States.

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing earlier this week that U.S. forces had fired “thousands of Tomahawks, precision strike missiles and other long-range offensive weapons at Iran, while also using Patriot, THAAD and Standard missile interceptors at an alarming rate.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States is strengthening its defense industrial base in an effort to produce critical munitions more quickly.

“We are reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the Liberty Arsenal,” Hegseth said at a news conference last week, adding that new agreements would reduce “long lead times for exquisite munitions.”

“We’re going to be restocked faster than anyone imagined,” Hegseth said.

How many Tomahawks has the United States used since the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025?

Although there is no official cumulative total made public, the U.S. military has used nearly 1,000 Tomahawk missiles and perhaps even more between strikes against Iran, operations in Yemen and the Red Sea, Nigeria and other conflicts since. June 2025according to several estimates from the news and weapons experts.

How fast can the United States currently produce Tomahawk missiles?

Production of the Tomahawk cruise missile has struggled to keep pace with its growing use. In recent years, the industry has produced only a dozen to a few hundred missiles per year for the United States under standard procurement cycles, according to Defense Department budget documents, a rate far below what could be spent even in a short, high-intensity conflict. Defense officials and analysts have long said the constraint comes not simply from funding, but from the structural limits of a defense industrial base designed for predictable demand rather than rapid wartime expansion.

How many Tomahawks would the United States like to produce in the future?

Recent advisories from the Department of Defense show that there has been an active effort to increase the Tomahawk’s capability. RTX announced last month that annual Tomahawk production would increase to more than 1,000 per year under new agreements.

But these efforts appear to span several years and do not represent an immediate wartime step backwards.

Separately, a September 2025 Pentagon contract notice indicates that Raytheon received funding for engineering to improve the production capacity of the Tomahawk All Up Round missile system, with work expected to be completed in March 2028.