US shifting from precision munitions to 2,000-pound bombs in Iran war, Hegseth says
The US will begin using larger reserves of less-sophisticated weapons after assessing that Iranian air defences are degraded, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
“More bombers, fighters are arriving just today. And now with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1,000-pound, and 2,000-pound GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs, which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” he said.
The move comes after The Washington Post reported on Wednesday how the US is rapidly running through its stock of “precision weapons”.
So far, the US has relied on so-called standoff munitions like cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles fired from ships or the ground. These weapon systems are more expensive and time-consuming to produce but pose less risk for the US, as they do not expose pilots to enemy air defences.
Middle East Eye was the first to reveal that Iran turned to China to beef up its arsenal after the June 2025 US attack on its nuclear facilities. Iran has received shipments of Chinese surface-to-air defence systems.
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The US appears to have freedom to manoeuvre in Iran’s skies, but some incidents suggest it is not as total as Hegseth states. For example, Iran was able to send a Yak-130 Russian jet trainer into the sky, but it was shot down by a vastly superior Israeli F-35 on Wednesday, according to Israeli media reports.
Hegseth said the move to 500-, 1,000-, and 2,000-pound bombs was because the US had successfully degraded Iran’s air defence systems.
The US wants to use cheaper and less sophisticated weapons to preserve its cruise and ballistic missile reserves. If the US has eliminated Iran’s air defence systems, switching to GPS and laser-guided gravity bombs would not pose a problem for their operations.
Potentially more concerning for the US and its partners is the shortage of air-defence interceptors. The US’s Gulf allies are bearing the brunt of Iran’s retaliation for the US and Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic.
They are effectively using the expensive air defence systems they purchased from the US to defend their cities, but supplies are being depleted. Gulf states asking for refills are being “stonewalled” by the US, which is facing a global shortage of interceptors, MEE reported previously.
Iran also faces its own shortages. Experts say Iran has been firing cheaper Shahed drones at the Gulf to conserve its stock of more sophisticated ballistic missiles.
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