Ready, fire, aim/rev XX

Christopher Furlong / Getty

Every time yours truly thinks about the CF known as Trump's and Israel's Iran war, ready, fire, aim comes to mind, particularly when it comes to pissing away ordnance, something often discussed in BRT as the US doesn't understand Von Clauwitcz or The Art of War in any way, shape or fashion. 

Portrait by Wilhelm Wach, c. 1830

Although the United States has been the world’s preeminent military power for decades, it apparently cannot fight a regional power such as Iran for more than a few months before experiencing an armaments crisis. Since hostilities with Tehran began on February 28, the U.S. has reportedly used up two-thirds of its Patriot missile interceptors, more than a third of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, and a third or more of its prewar stock of Tomahawk cruise missiles. The rate of consumption is all the more striking because a shaky cease-fire had halted most fighting for months. Based on recent production patterns, replenishing the supply of weaponry will take several years.

Making America’s challenge still more daunting is a major shift in war-fighting technology toward cheap, unmanned aerial vehicles. The United States and its allies in the Persian Gulf have been forced to use expensive, advanced air-defense systems—such as Patriot PAC-3 missiles that each cost millions of dollars and have a long production cycle—to shoot down Iranian drones that can be swiftly assembled for about $30,000.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration has failed to learn from the war in Ukraine. Iran has learned to mass-produce cheap drones—ones that the Russians first imported and now produce themselves. In other words, their effectiveness had been tested, and their existence was widely known. But that seemed to make no difference to U.S. planners. Perhaps in the arrogant belief that a war with Iran would quickly end in a decisive victory, the Pentagon did not have cost-effective systems ready to intercept these weapons. Neither did the Gulf countries that have counted on American weaponry for their self-defense.

Factoid: Iran is a leading developer of state-of-the art drones.

Shahed 136 drones displayed at an event in Tehran last weekend, one of three models
Iran has supplied to Russia. Photograph: Sobhan Farajvan/Pacific Press/Rex/Shutterstock