Iran has a satellite partnership with Russia for use and deployment. However, Iran did launch their own satellite back in June of 2011 - which also demonstrated their ICBM capabilities. They may have launched another one since then but who cares if they did. They had access to satellite navigation. There is no question about that.
Your claims regarding their lack of accuracy are without merit. Of course, you already know that. Remind me, where outside of the Middle East have we really ever deployed our cruise missiles and drones in any numbers? We have increasingly used both to exercise superiority over our “foes” in the Middle East as opposed to raw air power.
It appears that Iran has matched a lot of our cruise missile/ballistic missile capability and they have a substantial drone program that is very tailored to the area and geography that they inhabit.
For the most part, all of the oil terminal infrastructure is withing 300 miles of them so they really don’t need to manufacture and spend too much on high end missile technology to go long long distances, they can keep them lightweight for the specific purpose of destroying that oil infrastructure should the US ever decide that they really want to try to go through that regime changey thing.
That this is where they have been focusing, rather than the nuclear program is really a brilliant move, that they have a very large militia force all over the Middle East is also a brilliant one.
I have read that they are well into the 5 figures in terms of numbers, if so then the world really is at a place where we are going to have to accept them whether or not they have gained that all elusive nuke that makes us respect an opponent.
Trump has also made a mockery of our sanctions program, it’s going to be harder and harder for any country to keep taking it seriously in my view.
Ok you claim i’m wrong, then show us where they have demonstrated even 100m accuracy much less the sub 1m accuracy we have today with our PGM’s and CM’s.
I’ll be sure to provide those comparisons the next time I’m rummaging around through classified Iranian weapons testing documentation. Of course, that’s why you keep bringing it up because you know that type of information is not accessible.
Regardless, we have plenty of evidence in the public domain that clearly demonstrates the levels of accuracy that I just described. I don’t believe that five of them failed to reach their targets. I believe they all reached their targets and the consequences are significant. That’s why Trump looked like a stuttering fool today and his generals all looked a bit shocked behind him.
Strategically, the effects of this are enormous. The US costs of basing gear in Iraq just went way up. High value targets now require hardened bunkers; every base demands its patriots* and cruise missile defenses. So missions have to be flown from farther away (reduced net capacity) or we spend more. Now we have a very large capacity for spending more based on the principle of “print more dough” (or “quantitative easing” if you’re a principled economist on TV), but that capacity is not infinite. Could a continued operational posture at the current level drive the US into recession?
*on patriot batteries, or “pasties” as I call them, they seem to be rather overrated. They put on a good show of firing upwards as the missiles come downwards and everyone gets a starwarz warm fuzzy, but patriots were designed to shoot down fast moving fighters and fighter-bombers, and were pressed into service in the ABM role because we had (have?) nothing better. It’s easy to take down a fighter with a proximate airburst because they’re fragile. Incoming ballistic missiles are essentially high speed free falling bombs. Unless you score a direct hit, the warhead’s still going to boom. You might be able to deflect a few but they’re still going to hit land and detonate.
The fact is they have never demonstrated that level of precision.
They have reportedly about 2,000 similar missiles in the inventory which means somewhere around 1,300 that might or might not hit the thousand meter grid square being targeted.
If you can’t get within fifty yards of a point target you have no chance of destroying it except with salvo fire of dozens of missiles.
The means they have no depth and very little chance of inflicting any significant damage on military targets with them.
There most dangerous weapons to US are their anti shipping weapons.
Now compare that to the arsenal we can bring to bear in terms of both precision, volume, and anti missile technology.
Iran would be good for about a 3 day flash in which they will suffer massive losses, after that they are running short on every critical resource including people.
Weak response btw. You addressed maybe 10 percent of my points. From this point forward I will put as much work into responding to you as you put into responding to me. I don’t like wasting my time.
This is of course completely false. Even during the gulf war era the Patriots had better than a 90% success rate and that was four generations of weapons ago.
You don’t have to completely destroy a missile to defeat it, just prevent it from reaching it’s target.
The US has already demonstrated the ability to even defeat ICBM’s in both the boost phase and reentry phase and those systems have already been put in place on numerous Navy vessels.
They CM’s they have been using are not even in that class. They are low and slow cruise missiles.
You’re just dishonest. You clip one sentence out of a much longer post and claim I didn’t address your issues.
Iran has not demonstrated the ability to hit any of our critical defense infrastructure in Iraq other than perhaps airfields which are already protected.
Yet the majority of them reached their targets…and the cost of doing business in Iraq for the US military just went up. Again, I already addressed this at length but you willfully chose to ignore it.
“We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.”
Missile strikes against US bases in Iraq were legitimate self-defense measures and are now over, as Iran does not intend to wage war or escalate the situation further, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said.
Two volleys of missiles aimed at the Al-Asad base in Iraq’s Anbar province and another facility near Erbil were “proportionate measures in self-defense” under 51 of the UN Charter, Zarif tweeted from Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday, describing the action as “completed.”
Iran threatened “hard revenge” against the US for Soleimani’s death.
Iran knows that if they actually hit a US target causing singificant damage and/or casualties their offensive capabilities will be gone inside of 72hrs.
They had to do this to save face at home but if anything they’ve just shown how inept they are at missile attacks on fixed installations.
Chairman David Mao, why are you constantly an Anti American cheerleader. The Iranians couldn’t hit a bull in the ass with an upright bass.
If they had hit and caused one American casualty, Iran would exist only in memory.
President Trump has shown remarkable restraint with them and has put us into an all out war.The increased economic sanctions will eventually bring the Iranians to the table.He may not have the book smarts that Schmobama has but has much better street smarts and is a gambler. 4 more years!!!
That pretty much explains four decades of USFP in the ME, and the attitude of the warmongers and hawks your wasting time on. Spend it instead making sure that Trump hears your voice, and that you’re pissed that he’s violating another key campaign promise.
