U.S. Is Burning Through Tomahawk Cruise Missile Stockpile at an Alarming Rate
The four-week conflict with Iran has so far consumed more than a whopping 850 Tomahawk missiles, officials have stated. The four-week conflict with Iran has so far consumed more than 850 Tomahawk missiles, officials have stated.
The situation makes more sense when you realize the actual geopolitical needs of America simply aren't part of the equation. Trump and his Republican enablers only care about gambling for a pre-midterm "victory" and salving the presidential ego.
If they cared about taxpayer dollars or the US' long-term strategic position, we wouldn't be in this mess. There wouldn't be an illegal/unconstitutional war fueling consequences that everyone (else) saw coming.
I am now seeing quite a few videos of F15s trying to shoot down drones. That seems an odd choice.
Was this happening before or is it a new trend ? Is it to save on surface to air interceptors ?
This is indeed to save on more expensive missiles. A very cheap missile, the APKWS, is augmented with a cheap laser guidance kit to make the APKWS II, a cheap short range air-to-air missile.
APKWS II isn't useful for counter-manoeuvring targets like fighter jets, but it is perfect for one way drones. The Hydra 70 rocket it is build from doesn't have the range by itself to protect a wide area, but an F-15E can carry a number of 7-rocket pods, and has the speed to chase down drones and cruise missiles over a wide area, like a hummingbird zipping between flowers. Depending on loadout restrictions due to fuel tanks, an F-15E could employ 42 APKWS II and a mix of short range (AIM-9X) and medium range (AMRAAM).
All of this requires airborne cueing, which is why the loss of the E3 Sentry is so serious.
https://www.twz.com/air/f-15e-spotted-packing-big-laser-guid...
Yes, the US is highly dependent on the single E-7 at present. It has a much better RADAR than the old Sentry as well, especially for picking out low flying missiles against sea clutter. Obviously it can't be in the air at all times, but I understand from OSINT that many of the Shaheds are launched at night.
The ground location of the Wedgetail is obviously something the Iranians would love to know, in which case they would saturate it will ballistic missiles and it would be a race to get it in the air. I expect it moves regularly but that would create significant logistical issues too. Unlike Patriot batteries, which can be heavily sandbagged and routinely shuffled between prepared positions, a 737 on the tarmac is incredibly vulnerable.
It does seem like if I was China, this would be the perfect time to make a big geopolitical move: EU and Russia tied up with Ukraine and Iran, US & Gulf allies now stuck in a war zone, US showing aging tech with large exposure to new drone warfare.
This seems likely the conflict that forces the US into an immediate course correction in military makeup, or suffer large and expensive mass casualties on the battlefield.
What happened to Battleships after Aircraft Carriers entered the picture, comes to mind.
Don't interrupt your enemy when they are busy making mistakes.
Iran is shaping up to be a quagmire worse than Afghanistan or Iraq. Even if Trump pulls back from the brink, the GCC economies are significantly damaged, Iran will extort a massive wergild, and European and Asian economies will suffer another energy shock. China is relatively unscathed.
Iran is too close to china to make any real issue. USA can stop shooting themselves in the feet at any time and redirect to Taiwan.
If China wanted USA tied up, theyd get south america or cuba problems, forces away from China.
"any real issue"? Like crippling the world economy? They can extract a tithe on every gallon of oil leaving the Gulf. Without Qatari/Iranian natural gas there is a global energy crunch.
South/Central America has no significant military opponents, most especially none that will consume large quantities of exquisite armaments. It would mostly consume Army resources in COIN, which they are extremely experienced with from Afghanistan.
It's actually mystifying that Trump started the beef with Iran, when he could have just invaded Cuba and had an easy win. The Israeli factor of course, truly America's greatest weakness.
uticus