 Editor in Chief Bill   | 15 Oct 2024 5:54 a.m. PST |
As Israel's conflict with Hezbollah and Iran has escalated, it has begun to show a degree of vulnerability. A Hezbollah drone evaded Israel's much vaunted air defences on Sunday and struck a military canteen when it was busy with soldiers eating dinner. Four were killed and 58 wounded, seven seriously, at a location 40 miles south of the Lebanese border… The Guardian: link |
| soledad | 15 Oct 2024 7:45 a.m. PST |
link If this is correct US will help you out. When it comes to Ukraine US administration is not exactly bending over backwards to help. Maybe because US is afraid of the Russians? But sending ultra modern air defense and soldiers to Israel is ok. Sending old, written off, tanks to Ukraine is ok but not long range ATACMS. Risking the lives of US service men to defend Israel is ok though. |
 aegiscg47  | 15 Oct 2024 10:47 a.m. PST |
Considering how many thousands of rockets have been launched by Hamas and Hezbollah over the years, then two 180-200 missile/drone barrages by Iran with little to no damage, I would say that the Israeli defenses are doing pretty good! |
| SBminisguy | 15 Oct 2024 11:03 a.m. PST |
|
| Lester | 15 Oct 2024 11:20 a.m. PST |
they'll soon have drone killing lasers mounted on sharks. |
| Bunkermeister | 15 Oct 2024 11:30 a.m. PST |
Israel and Ukraine are fighting the same war. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, and Islamist surrogates are all the same enemy. The West since the Korean War seems to have an aversion to winning a war. Dribble in just enough to keep from losing and after 5, or 10 years give up as unwinnable. The US has thousands of Abrams and Bradleys in storage but we give Ukraine a few dozen. Russia attacks the capitol of Ukraine, but Ukraine is creating an "escalation" if they use Western weapons to attack Moscow. That's how you lose a war, giving all the advantages to the enemy. Bunkermeister |
| Editor in Chief Bill | 15 Oct 2024 11:57 a.m. PST |
I would say that the Israeli defenses are doing pretty good! If they don't run out of ammo. |
| 35thOVI | 15 Oct 2024 11:59 a.m. PST |
"they'll soon have drone killing lasers mounted on sharks" President: You know, I have one simple request, and that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now, evidently, my cycloptic colleague informs me that that can't be done. Uh, can you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here! What do we have? Aide: Sea bass. President : [pause] Right. Aide: They are mutated sea bass. President: Really? Are they ill-tempered? Aide: Absolutely. President: That's a start, you know. 😉 |
| aegiscg47 | 15 Oct 2024 12:03 p.m. PST |
"If they don't run out of ammo." Yes, that is a major concern along with cost for what high tech, quality weaponry can do. Look at Western naval forces operating off of Yemen are able to do. They have state of the art systems that can detect and successfully engage all kinds of SSMs, ballistic missiles, drones, etc., and suffered no losses. However, each ship only carries so many missiles and each of them certainly isn't cheap. |
| Col Durnford | 15 Oct 2024 3:16 p.m. PST |
More actual field testing of the systems and the crews. Poke the terrorist in the eye is just a bonus! |
| Inch High Guy | 15 Oct 2024 3:52 p.m. PST |
Look at the specs and costs for the THAAD. This is a very capable but costly system effective against ballistic missiles. THAAD plus an SM-3 ship in the Persian Gulf would give you two chances to intercept an Iranian ballistic missile. So far Iranian ballistic missiles have not proven to be much of a threat. But … not hard to envision a scenario where a couple of very special Iranian missiles absolutely MUST be intercepted, so layer the defenses. |
| Maggot | 15 Oct 2024 5:35 p.m. PST |
Once laser systems are perfected, I think they will become the go-to AA defenses, at least for shorter range systems. THey've already been tested successfully versus drone swarms and even against ballistic targets. Ammo less of an issue (but fuel to power the system would be….). I would not be surprised if Israel is at least on par with the US in testing such systems. They would be highly cost efficient. |
 Legion 4 | 16 Oct 2024 8:21 a.m. PST |
The THAAD is pricey and IIRC the US only has about 8 systems. Now one sent to Israel. With the US crews, etc. I'm pretty sure this will be the last US troops sent there. This is a defensive weapon. To protect Israels from Iran's missiles. It should be a seen as a deterrent. Iran may not want to kill US troops ? The US SEC/State told the Israelis to be circumspect about their ops in Gaza. As the US will stop providing ammo, etc. I won't say what I think of this appointed gov't official. Bibi said the IDF AF has all their targets plotted in Iran. But will not hit Iran's oil or nuke production. Just military targets. Iran's X-factor is if their oil production was hit hard; it would disrupt the world's oil market etc. So, they have that going in their favor. "War's good for business
War's bad for business
But no matter how bad it gets … someone makes a profit."
Iran's islamic fundamentalist theocratic regime is reported to have 80% of their population not liking them very much. Iran's "underground" helps the IDF with ops in their country. As it is against the religious fundamentalist leaders. If the US/IDF AF (+?) hit Iran hard these religious fanatic leaders would suffer greatly and possibly overthrown.
But again, they have their oil to protect them from a major air and naval offensive. E.g. missiles, drones and airstrikes … Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, and Islamist surrogates are all the same enemy. Read an article that said this new version of the "Axis of Evil" is referred to by the "experts" as "CRINK" … I.e. "China Russia Iran Nork Korea" … Catchy ! |
