Reference News Network, March 7 report. According to the U.S. Defense News website, March 6 report, two informed sources told the U.S. "Military Times" that senior officials of the Trump administration admitted at a private briefing on Capitol Hill this week that the destructive power of Iran's "Shahed-136" drone on the battlefield exceeded the Pentagon's expectations.
Senior military commanders, including U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, warned lawmakers that gaps in anti-drone technology could make the U.S. military and its deployments increasingly vulnerable.
"They are unprepared," said one person who attended the briefing regarding the U.S. defense plans in the Middle East.
The U.S. Department of Defense said that since the war began, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran has launched thousands of suicide drones toward U.S. military bases and embassies in the region. Although the U.S. military and its allies have intercepted most of the attacks mainly using the "Patriot" air defense missile system, some of them still hit their targets successfully.
"Iran knows it cannot match the aircraft and missiles of the United States or Gulf countries, but it can change the economics of conflict," said Patricia Baker, deputy director of the missile defense program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in an interview with the "Military Times." "Drones allow Iran to overachieve, throw opponents off balance, and project power throughout the region at the lowest cost."
The Pentagon has deployed aircraft carriers and fighter jets to the region, marking the largest concentration of naval and air power in the Middle East in decades. However, intercepting swarms of low-cost drones is rapidly depleting the U.S. missile stockpile. (Translated by Wenyi)
Original: toutiao.com/article/7614466912541622822/
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