Washington has notified European allies — including the United Kingdom, Poland, Lithuania, and Estonia — that they should expect long delays in deliveries of US weapons, as the Pentagon scrambles to replenish stockpiles depleted by the war with Iran, the Financial Times reports, citing nine people familiar with the matter.
According to FT, the Pentagon has informed the countries of serious delays affecting several missile systems. Two sources said discussions were also under way about postponing shipments to Asia.
The delays are partly driven by acute concerns about US inventory levels following the high volume of weapons expended in Iran over the past two months. The American military has already moved weapons from other regions, including the Indo-Pacific, to compensate for the shortfalls. The Iran war has also deepened concerns over whether the US holds enough weapons to deter Beijing or prevail against China in any future conflict over Taiwan.
Which systems are affected
The delays will hit munitions for HIMARS, NASAMS and other missile systems. HIMARS, used in Ukraine, are highly mobile rocket systems made by Lockheed Martin. NASAMS are medium-range surface-to-air systems co-produced by Raytheon and Norway's Kongsberg.
The Pentagon told FT it was "carefully evaluating new requests for equipment from partners as well as existing arms transfer cases to ensure alignment with operational needs," declining to provide details and citing the "operationally sensitive nature of these matters."
US allies and partners using NASAMS include Taiwan, Norway, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Indonesia, Australia, Hungary, Ukraine, Denmark, Qatar and Oman. According to Lockheed Martin, 14 US partners use HIMARS, among them Taiwan, Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
Transatlantic strain
The delays come at a tense moment in transatlantic relations. President Donald Trump has lashed out at allies for not doing more to help the US campaign against Iran. Several people told FT the delays were not aimed at punishing Europe but reflected US concerns about its own stockpiles.
"The Pentagon may now need to fight a long war in the Middle East and it's also desperate to shore up deterrence in the Indo-Pacific," said Tom Wright, a former official in the Biden administration now at the Brookings Institution. "It's more than willing to throw Europe under the bus to do that. Europe needs to rebuild its own defence industrial base at warp speed."
On Friday, Trump dismissed concerns about stockpiles: "All over the world, we have inventory, and we can take that if we need it."
Asian allies also exposed
Security experts said US allies in Asia should also brace for delays. Japan and South Korea rely on various US weapons, including Patriot missile interceptors, for their defence.
NASAMS have not been used widely in the Iran conflict, but FT has reported that Washington is compiling a record-size arms package for Taiwan that would include NASAMS and Patriot interceptors. The NASAMS portion of the package is estimated at $6 billion.
"Allies in Asia are likely underestimating the impact that US munition shortfalls will have on them and how long the impact will last," said Christopher Johnstone, a former senior Pentagon official now at The Asia Group.
"Japan was already deeply frustrated with delivery delays for systems they have paid for, including the Tomahawk cruise missiles," Johnstone said. "This reality will drive Japan, South Korea and other allies to focus more heavily on indigenous and non-American options, even in areas where US equipment is clearly superior."
Production cannot catch up quickly
US defence firms are racing to boost output of critical weapons, including Patriot interceptors. Trump said last month that companies had agreed to "quadruple" production of high-end systems. But inventories will remain strained, as delivery schedules already run several years.
Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, said last month that it would take up to two years for major defence contractors to scale production to the level needed to address the inventory shortfall.
Washington has delayed deliveries to allies before. In 2024, Biden paused shipments of interceptors for Patriot and NASAMS systems to other countries to accelerate their delivery to Ukraine. The latest warning, however, is more serious because of the broader scale of the problem, according to FT.
Impact on Ukraine
The strain on inventories is already hurting Ukraine. A senior Ukrainian official told FT that US weapons deliveries to Kyiv had faced delays since the start of the Iran war. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, late arrivals have at times left Patriot launchers empty during Russian missile barrages.
European Pravda adds that on Friday, 1 May, the White House said in a letter to Congress that combat operations against Iran had "ended," although US armed forces remain in the region. On Thursday, Iran transmitted updated proposals to the United States through Pakistani intermediaries on a deal to end the war. Trump said he was dissatisfied with Iran's peace proposals, while his representatives continue talks by telephone.
