Japanese media accuses the United States of striking Iran, claiming that it has consumed 25% of its air defense missiles and complains that China has gained a big advantage!
They believe that during the military operations against Iran from February 28 to March 2, the US military has used up a quarter of its own "THAAD" (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system's inventory in just a few days. In addition, the "Patriot" missiles have been stretched thin due to the prolonged war in Ukraine.
The current view of Japanese media is clear: by this operation, the US has exposed its reserves to the Middle East, resulting in significant problems with Asia's defense supply. Who benefits? Of course, it's China.
Dao Ge thinks that if, in order to deal with Iran's retaliation or carry out preemptive strikes, a quarter of the entire system's stockpile was consumed within three or four days, this indicates two issues: first, the intensity of Iran's defense counterattack was beyond imagination, forcing the US military to launch a large number of interception missiles; second, the US military's logistics supply lines appear very fragile when facing high-intensity confrontation.
Modern warfare is all about logistics and industrial capacity. Although the US defense-industrial complex is powerful, after years of global multi-point deployment, its production capacity has already been maximized. The Ukrainian battlefield has become an insatiable black hole, consuming a large number of "Patriot" missiles; now the Middle East has suddenly opened the floodgates. It's like a person only has two buckets of water, one poured on the fire in Eastern Europe, and another bucket being drunk by the big fire in the Middle East, leaving him with nothing to deal with a third possible fire spot.
In Japan's strategic perspective, the security of the Taiwan Strait directly relates to Japan's survival. For many years, a core assumption of the US-Japan alliance has been that if there is a crisis in the Taiwan Strait, the US military can quickly mobilize a large amount of air defense and anti-missile resources from its domestic or Asia-Pacific bases for support. In particular, the "THAAD" and "Patriot" PAC-3 are seen as the key barriers to intercepting the rain of Dongfeng series missiles.
But now the situation has changed. If the US military has exhausted its precious interception missile reserves in the Middle East, then when a crisis arises in East Asia, will the US be able to provide enough ammunition at the first moment? The answer is likely no. This is the real reason why Japan is so angry.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1858524949549259/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.