The US burned through more of its limited Tomahawk stockpile in strikes on Iran. It might need them in a war with China.

• The US fired Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of its strikes on Iran on Saturday.
• Tomahawks have been used heavily in recent conflicts, raising concerns about stockpile strains.
• The missiles would be crucial in a conflict with an adversary like China.

US Navy warships fired Tomahawk missiles in their attack on Iran on Saturday, burning through more of the limited stockpile that American forces might need in a conflict with a well-armed adversary likeChina.

Tomahawks are cruise missiles whose long-range and precise targetinghave made them a become a weapon of choice in recent US campaigns in the Middle East. They are also considered necessary for any potential high-intensity conflict in the Indo-Pacific, where long-range firepower is seen as critical.

US officials and experts have raised concerns that Tomahawk stockpiles are being drained after their use against targets in Nigeria, Yemen, Iran, and now Iran again — risking that the US might not have enough on hand should it go to war with an adversary like China.

There are, however, efforts underway to boost production. As part of a new agreement with the Pentagon, RTX Corporation said this month it would be working to increase annual Tomahawk production to over 1,000 missiles a year as part of a multi-year effort.

Tomahawk cruise missiles were part of a mixture of weapons, including drones, used in strikes against Iran on Saturday during Operation Epic Fury, a US official told Business Insider. US Central Command later released video of the launches.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military developments, the official said US warships launched Tomahawk missiles at Iranian targets while ground forces used the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. The official didn't specify the number of Tomahawks fired or the sites targeted.

The US built up a massive force presence in and around the Middle East before the start of Operation Epic Fury, including 13 Navy destroyers that, if all were in striking range, could launch 150 to 250 Tomahawks, according to an analysis of the US military's Middle East deployment by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

If US operations were to include one of the four Ohio-class submarines converted to carry cruise missiles, it would add up to 154 more Tomahawks. It remains unclear whether the US strikes include a guided-missile submarine.

Operation Epic Fury is the most recent US combat engagement to use Tomahawks. It follows Operation Midnight Hammer, which targeted Iranian nuclear sites last summer, and years of strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen. Tomahawks were also fired in December at sites in Nigeria associated with an Islamic State affiliate.

Across these operations and military actions, US officials have highlighted the importance of Tomahawks in America's arsenal, as well as the need for increased production.

"Precision-guided, long-range munitions like Tomahawk, Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, the heavyweight torpedo, all those ammunitions we need to increase production on," then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby said last May during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, adding that it may be necessary to look toward other alternatives if current production lines are insufficient.

The highly capable BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile is manufactured by RTX Corporation and has been in service since the early 1980s. The estimated price tag for each of these jet-powered, subsonic cruise missiles is approximately $1.3 million. They rely on multiple guidance systems to find their targets, including GPS and cameras that compare a strike point with uploaded reference maps. The Tomahawk's reach depends on the variant.

The Tomahawk missile is a combat-proven weapon that the US military has repeatedly turned to for long-range precision strikes, often launching multiple missiles at a single target to ensure destruction. The Tomahawk is relatively slow compared to ballistic missiles, but it includes maneuvering designed to evade defenses close to a target.

As RTX notes on its website, the US and its allies have used the missile in an operational environment more than 2,350 times.

The pace of expenditure has varied by military campaign. During Operation Midnight Hammer, roughly 30 Tomahawks were launched from an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine against Iranian nuclear sites. In strikes against Houthi forces, the US launched over 135 of these missiles. And in December 2025, over a dozen Tomahawks were launched at ISIS-affiliated targets in Nigeria.

US Tomahawk use appears to exceed its procurement. For fiscal year 2025, the Navy budget request planned for a purchase of 72 Tomahawks, and in fiscal year 2026, that number dropped to 57. It can take up to two years to produce Tomahawks, further adding to constraints on missile stocks.

Tomahawks are primarily fired by US Navy warships and submarines and have ranges often well beyond 800 miles. A new US Army program, known as the Typhon, also fires Tomahawks from a mobile land-based launcher, potentially deepening demand for the munitions.

Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a 2024 analysis that "victory in the next war will require a robust arsenal and deeper magazine depth of our fighting forces."

"During Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, US forces launched roughly 800 land-attack Tomahawks during the initial invasion. By today's production rate, that would take us a decade to replenish. Fighting China would certainly require far more—and Beijing knows it," she said.

A war with an adversary like China has become a benchmark for munition levels because US officials believe American forces would need to destroy a vast number of Chinese weapons, especially its land-based missile batteries, at extremely longranges.

War games and analyses, like one conducted by CSIS in early 2023, suggest the US industrial base isn't prepared to maintain production at the scale needed for a fight with China, with recent conflicts adding further strain. And while some US allies, like Japan, are buying Tomahawks as well, concerns remain about how many will be necessary if conflict breaks out in the Indo-Pacific.

"If we go to war with China, it's going to be bloody, and there's going to be casualties, and it's going to take plenty of munitions," Kilby said last year. "So our stocks need to be full."

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