The world is on the cusp of a third missile age, with conventional ballistic weapons proliferating at unprecedented speed in the wake of widespread, battlefield-warping deployment in Iran and Ukraine.
Those two wars have seen the use of thousands of air- and surface-launched ballistic missiles. Iran alone has fired about 2,000 since that conflict began on the last day of February, causing massive damage throughout the region and eroding stockpiles of hard-to-replace interceptors.
Domestically produced Iranian ballistic missiles have altered the trajectory of the conflict, keeping Iran in the fight despite U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying in mid-March that Tehran¡¯s military had been destroyed. Five months later, Iranian missiles continue to hit targets around the Gulf, including an attack on July 17 that killed U.S. troops, and then a wave of strikes overnight targeting American forces in the region.
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