By successfully attacking Israeli air bases which had the benefit of the full range of US anti-ballistic missile technology, Iran exposed the vulnerability of the US missile defense shield to modern missile technologies involving maneuverable warheads, decoys, and hypersonic speed. US bases in Europe, the Pacific and the Middle East once thought to be well-protected, have suddenly been revealed to be vulnerable to hostile attack. So, too, are US Navy ships operating at sea.
Posted by: Lavrov's Dog | Apr 17 2024 0:35 utc | 606
I think this was all well-demonstrated in the SMO, where Ukraine had not only every kind of western missile defense, but also Soviet systems which appear to still out-perform the Patriot. After all, as I recall, an audit of the Patriot's performance vs SCUDs in the Iraq war indicated that they achieved zero interceptions. The pentagon's own war games vs China and vs Iran have been coming up with the same answer for about a decade now, maybe longer- they are both capable of sinking an entire US carrier battle group in an engagement of less than an hour, while the US does not have to capacity to inflict meaningful damage on either nation's land-based facilities in conventional warfare.
Possibly more people will come to understand all this due to the Iranian operation, but the people who don't already simply don't want to. The information has been widely available for a long time.
Posted by: Honzo | Apr 17 2024 5:08 utc
