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 Middle East. 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 sense of Trump’s lie other than it’s just another Trump lie.
Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock
