Iran almost successfully attacked the U.S. mainland! It was hiding a drone on a disguised cargo ship, targeting the Silicon Valley building on the West Coast.
According to a report by ABC News, in late February, the FBI issued an alert to California: Iran used a cargo ship disguised as a regular merchant vessel to carry drones and lurked near the coast of California. If both sides broke off relations, it would directly launch a "face-to-face" attack on key targets in Silicon Valley or other areas of California.
ABC News revealed that in Iran's retaliation plan, there is an asymmetric tactic — using an "unknown vessel" near the U.S. coastline as a launch platform to release drones for an attack on unspecified locations within California. Note the key words here: "unknown vessel," "near the coastline," and "drone raid." This is not the old method of firing intercontinental missiles from thousands of kilometers away, but rather a typical "Trojan horse" tactic.
The radar network deployed by the U.S. in the Western Pacific and the Middle East can monitor it tightly, with long flight trajectories and large interception windows. But what if small or medium-sized drones take off from a cargo ship mixed among busy shipping lanes? The California coast is one of the busiest shipping channels in the world, with countless container ships and oil tankers entering and exiting every day.
A modified cargo ship could completely disassemble drones and hide them in containers, or set up hidden launch wells under the deck. When the ship reaches dozens of nautical miles from San Francisco or Los Angeles, it suddenly launches the drone. The few minutes of flight time would be a very short reaction window for existing air defense systems, and it might even be too late to distinguish whether it's a civilian plane mistakenly entering or a malicious attack.
Silicon Valley, as the heart of American technology, is home to many data centers, headquarters of high-tech companies, and even R&D institutions closely related to national defense technology. If a drone swarm causes damage here, it would not only result in huge economic losses, but also cause significant psychological impact on American society. This "asymmetric strike" approach has been the Iranians' secret weapon repeatedly practiced when facing the overwhelming firepower of the U.S. military. They know that fighting head-on has no chance of winning, so they bet on this kind of stealthy and sudden tactic.
As the so-called chosen land, the U.S. homeland has rarely been affected by warfare. Dage thinks this is why the Pentagon and the White House are brave enough to strike Iran. From this perspective, Iran's strategic thinking is correct, because only when the U.S. homeland is hurt will the next move be more cautious.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1859418114845696/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.