Fleet Cyber Command Warns US Cyber Munitions Face Depletion in Long Wars
Vice Adm. Heidi Berg said precision cyber munitions are consumed quickly and are hard to regenerate in a long fight against a peer. U.S. Cyber Command asked Congress for an extra $229 million to expand operations and to develop and field cyber munitions.
Berg flags a finite cyber stockpile
Vice Adm. Heidi Berg, commander of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet, said U.S. forces can exhaust cyber capabilities in a prolonged conflict, even as officials separately warn that fighting involving Iran could strain conventional munitions.
Berg spoke on 24 September 2026 at HammerCon, hosted by the Association of Military Cyber Professionals. Asked about lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war and U.S. operations in Venezuela, the Middle East, and other theaters, she said precision cyber munitions are consumed quickly. She asked how forces would regenerate access and effects so they can keep delivering those effects in long campaigns that are almost always against peer competitors.
Why cyber tools do not restock like shells
Berg did not give operational detail. Officials and specialists have said for years that cyber capabilities and custom exploits are finite, often not reusable, and not easy to replace. Once an adversary or a vendor patches the flaw, the method fails. Extra money and factory lines cannot restock them the way they restock artillery or missiles, because finding flaws and building tools takes time and scarce skill.
Beyond current fighting, exploits or hacking methods used in operations against Iran or Venezuela may already be unusable in a later conflict if they were exposed. An unnamed former senior U.S. Defense Department official said foreign services are likely watching how U.S. cyber operators perform and studying their tactics.
Debate over physical ammunition shortages has dominated coverage. The condition of U.S. cyber inventories has drawn less public attention, including around operations related to Iran. Cyber activity is often treated as a daily contest below the threshold of armed conflict. U.S. forces have been in continuous cyberspace combat since Operation Epic Fury began.
Continuous operations since 28 February
Lt. Gen. Christopher Eubank, commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command and the cyber official for Middle East operations, said at the same event that, from the Epic Fury vantage point, operations have not stopped since 28 February. He said that stretch of unbroken activity may be a first for the cyber force as a whole.
After Epic Fury started, specialists said one-off missions such as Operation Absolute Resolve, which captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and which Berg called the largest and most complex cyber operation ever, do not always raise the same sustained-access worries as a long campaign.
Access consumed fast, replenished slowly
Jason Kickta, a former U.S. Cyber Command operator, said access is the real asset in cyber operations and that it is consumed quickly and replenished slowly. As Epic Fury continues, many missions will change parameters and priorities as the battlefield and networks change. U.S. operators will keep hunting for new access around the clock.
Once access exists, the next choice remains whether to keep collecting intelligence or to disrupt a target. Disruption almost always ends further cyber influence on that target and also ends its intelligence value.
$229 million unfunded request
InsideDefense reported in May that U.S. Cyber Command, in an unfunded priorities list sent to Congress earlier this year, asked for an extra $229 million to expand cyber operations and to research, develop, and field cyber munitions. The outlet said the money was meant to ease limits on generating and sustaining cyber effects at speed and scale.
QiAnxin’s cyber threat intelligence unit compiled the public remarks for reference.