European countries are facing a significant shortage of U.S. Patriot interceptor missiles, largely due to the war in Iran, which has rapidly depleted their stockpiles, the Associated Press reports. This is hardly news, it was already known that several countries in Europe would face serious challenges in ensuring air defense for their territories, but now American officials have confirmed the situation. According to them, in the event of a Russian missile attack, NATO countries would find themselves in a position similar to Ukraine's, forced "to take punch after punch in the mouth." Furthermore, the issue is compounded by the fact that Russia has recently been rapidly ramping up ballistic missile production, improving its technologies, and even importing additional missiles from North Korea. In the event of a conventional war between Europe and Russia, this would be the most critical problem of all, there is currently a substantial gap between defensive and offensive weaponry, as producing any type of defense system is far more costly than manufacturing offensive weapons.