THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS: Israel’s 12-Day War Revealed Alarming Gap in America’s Missile Stockpile.

The U.S. has seven high-end Thaad missile-defense systems. During the 12-day war with Iran in June, two were deployed to Israel—and it wasn’t enough.

Operating alongside Israeli systems, Thaad operators burned through munitions at a furious clip, firing more than 150 missiles to shoot down the waves of Iranian ballistic missiles, according to U.S. officials. That is nearly a quarter of the interceptors ever purchased by the Pentagon.

The demand was so staggering that at one point, the Pentagon considered a plan to divert interceptors purchased by Saudi Arabia to the systems in Israel, one official said. The discussions were sensitive, because the kingdom’s cities and oil installations were also considered at risk during the conflict.

It wasn’t just the Thaad. The U.S. ran through large numbers of shipborne interceptors as well, and Israel quickly drained stockpiles for its own systems. Dozens of Iranian missiles got through anyway.

While Israeli officials credited the American systems for saving thousands of lives, the war revealed an alarming gap in U.S. supplies. The U.S. also discovered inefficiencies in the way it fired its antimissile systems and is scrutinizing the performance of some interceptors.

It’s a peacetime conceit that we never stockpile enough of what we need for war.