The Islamic Republic’s missile and drone production capability may be permanently crippled following sustained US-led operations targeting the regime’s defense industrial base.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Dan Caine said the campaign systematically dismantled the infrastructure sustaining the regime’s weapons programs.

"Their missile program is functionally destroyed," with launchers, production facilities, and stockpiles "depleted and decimated," Caine told reporters at the Pentagon on April 8.

Hundreds of strikes targeted Iranian factories, assembly lines, and logistics hubs responsible for producing missiles and drones.

These facilities were "overwhelmingly destroyed," cutting off the regime’s ability to regenerate its arsenal at scale, he said during a March 19 press briefing.

With US forces effectively controlling Iranian airspace, follow-on strikes were conducted with minimal resistance.

This enabled repeated targeting of production sites, storage depots, and command networks, compounding long-term damage to the system sustaining weapons manufacturing.

Missile attacks dropped by roughly 90 percent, while one-way drone attacks declined by more than 80 percent during the campaign.

These reductions reflect not only interception success, but also the degradation of the Islamic Republic’s ability to produce and deploy new systems.

While the regime may retain some residual stockpiles, the loss of production capacity severely limits its ability to replenish advanced weapons over time.

Without functioning factories, supply chains, and protected facilities, rebuilding becomes slower, more costly, and increasingly vulnerable to renewed strikes.