I am still trying to figure out how this makes sense.
How Iran’s Drones Hit America’s Achilles Heel
Politico reports How Iran’s Drones Hit America’s Achilles Heel
The abrupt evacuation of American bombers from a key U.K. airbase underscores the extreme vulnerability facing the world’s most powerful fighting force and its NATO allies — as cheap drones and off-the-shelf tech transform warfare.
President Donald Trump has insisted Iran’s military is “completely destroyed” due to eight months of attacks from American and Israeli firepower. But Tehran continues to strike back with low-cost Shahed drones that have kept the Navy from returning to U.S.-friendly ports in the Middle East and severely damaged an American airbase near Iran. Warnings about Iranian drones even led to the evacuation of all U.S. bombers from Britain’s Fairford air base this week and sent Trump scurrying into a catering cart in July as he left a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
The actions underscore the pervasiveness of these new threats — and just how unprepared U.S. and European officials are to tackle a new kind of warfare.
“What worries me is a growing possibility of ‘drone terrorism’ and ability of different semiorganized groups and vile individuals to act against our infrastructure by cheap, even household made, means,” said a senior European defense official.
American officials are recognizing similar limitations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently established a new combatant command focused on drone warfare, but it will likely be years before it yields results on the battlefield.
Iran can “apply all of this asymmetric pressure on us,” which wasn’t the case even a few years ago, said a U.S. official, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
The Pentagon and NATO did not respond to requests for comment.
“There were some threats, and rather than tempting the enemy, we’ll capture the enemy and beat the enemy,” Trump said about the decision to move the bombers. “But why should we leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit.”
Military leaders are still weighing whether to rebuild the base in Bahrain — and how to strengthen it if they do. Weeks of ballistic missile and drone attacks damaged the command center, satellite terminals, and logistics warehouses. Some troops had to relocate to Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, and can’t return due to the continuing Iranian threat. Other troops from a Qatar base have been working from Shaw Air Base in South Carolina since the start of the strikes.
“You’ve got to ask, ‘Do we invest a lot to rebuild this, or do we do something else?” the U.S. official said. “I don’t know that we know enough right now to be able to answer that.”
No Pentagon Comment
O.K. I’ll comment.
It’s one thing to be worried about Iranian drones in the Mideast. And it’s humiliating enough to have to admit that the US cannot protect US troops and allies in the region.
But now we are fearful of Iran attacking US bases in the U.K.
This is a serious WTF kind of issue.
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Addendum
There is no way to make an sense out of Trump’s lie other than it’s just another Trump lie.
If it’s the RF’s largest refinery, it covers square miles.
Do you think you can explode 20 ²miles of plant with a 30kg charge?
Yes, some spectacular fires will ensue (refineries are full of fuel).
Refineries literally cook oil and condense gases.
Nobody is better prepared to deal with fires than refineries.
The news is so full of ridiculous stories, most of which are psy-ops.
Nuf said.
The only thing we can conclude seriously is that the US does not have any workable Air Defense assets, and its much vaunted military is a PR mirage to cover a gigantic money laundering scheme.
Mish, the issue of ‘drone terrorism’ is being swept under the carpet. The number of westerners participating in the Ukraine war where they receive accelerated training or gain experience using drones will come back to haunt western governments soon. Security measures focus on frisking individuals whereas a drone operator can stay far away and carry out whatever they intend to.
Another issue that is likely to be contentious will be the question ‘does the second amendment include the right to own drone weapons’
I bet making drones in England would be easier than smuggling them in. I bet you can probably order the parts on Amazon.uk.
If Iran can launch a few drones from a portable platform in the UK then they can do it in the U.S. or anywhere in the world. I think they learned this from Ukraine.
https://www.breezyscroll.com/world/how-ukraine-used-drones-hidden-in-trucks-to-strike-five-russian-airbases/
There is no target these drones on moving/roving platforms can’t hit and the kicker is that it only takes a few hundred thousand dollars to cripple $100+ million dollar jets, ships, bases, refineries, power grids, nuclear plants, etc.
The asymmetric calculus has changed way in favor of low cost actors against high priced targets.
Long term, freelance pirates and others will learn to use this system to cause havoc all over the world once empires start collapsing.
So why is the U.S. spending $1 trillion on pointless military hardware?
Yes, this is my reading from multiple sources as well.
This is not “Iran’s military”. These are potential Iranian or Iranian-affiliated terrorists that can launch low-end drones from many different places in many different ways.
It’s not a ‘military’ issue – unless you consider these occurring more often because we started a military war with Iran. But it will be national or local law enforcement that has to try to deal with these potential deadly outcomes now.
Didn’t the CIA and MI6 use their Ukrainian proxies with success attacking Russian strategic bombers last year?
Don’t you know, when WE do it, then that makes it okay!
When they do it, then it’s dirty rotten underhanded cheating.
Ground invasion then WW3 then martial law invoked to stop the election….then civil war in the US….interesting times.
I agree with Easterbrook: pedophiles like him should receive capital punishment.
Then again, laws only apply to those outside of the Epstein Club.
For better or worse, I mailed in my ballot earlier this week.
mailed mine in today
and received the $90 that paid for my upcoming cheap seats at the NHL game
Just a matter of time before ground invasion. WW3 coming. Recently read that France has sent troops to Saudi Arabia. Its coming. Somebody F’d up. No one saw this coming?? Like to see who is responsible for this exposed. Most likely the fuher didn’t listen to his generals. He knows more than them
I’m going to talk to my Iranian friends in a couple of minutes.
everyone except the cult knows Iran still has considerable military capabilities.
The UK should be left to its own devices and demise, regardless.
So much for NATO, eh?
Everybody knows that NATO are the US and their voluntary cannon fodder. Only the new comers in Eastern Europe actually believe that the US would trade a million people in San Antonio for a million people in their countries.
Where else do those easterners have to turn?
And yes, look what happened to Czechoslovakia and Poland in the run-up to WW2, even after the German invasion and explicit declaration of war by Britain and France on Germany. The French just dug in. The USSR was on the eastern end of all that, and even after WW2, the west left those eastern countries to Stalin’s tender mercies.
The difference now is intercontinental missiles. which might lead a USA to engage, but that would roll the dice on global conflagration. so no. San Antonio vaporizes that way too.
Oh, and treaty structures mean even less from our side in the Trump era. He hates losers, you know. The German Chancellor in 1914 called treaties mere “scraps of paper.” Well, we have that kind of brittle benighted tough-guy leadership now, not encouraging for anyone’s stable expectations. Maybe we are fortunate Russia’s military is somewhat degraded at the moment.
I will be interested to see if and when anybody feels they have the “minerals” or the occasion to test all this. North Korea?
We should not be on the hook to fight europes wars for them.
Again.
For that matter, europe would have a lot fewer security problems, but for America’s constant wars of aggression.