What’s your source for “99% of their missiles missed their targets?”
They took out an AWACS parked on the runway in Saudi Arabia. We only made 17 of them, and we don’t make them anymore. The Chinese or Russians provided them with satellite data.
They hit multiple oil platforms in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. They hit an offshore gas platform belonging to Qatar. The fact is, they were able to hit targets in Israel as well ... although Israel is trying to keep that quiet.
Their tactics are simple, but effective: A Shahed drone costs them $30K. A Patriot interceptor costs $1 million. And we fire two or three when a Shahed shows up.
In some areas, they are way behind. About 20 years ago, they tried to launch a jet-fighter program. They quietly shut it down because they could not get the technology.
Silicon Valley is full of brilliant Iranian engineers. These are the ones who were lucky and got out. There are millions who stayed behind.
At the end of the day, they posed a sufficiently-credible threat to international shipping, such that PDJT offered them immediate sanctions relief, immediate lifting of the naval blockade, a promise of lifting all sanctions (including third nation sanctions) $300 billion in reparations, plus complete evacuation of US forces from middle east, in return for a nuclear deal. He abandoned “unconditional surrender.” And the missile issue. And the proxy militia issue. And joining the Abraham Accords. And the human rights issue.
But exactly because they are a belligerent threat, I think PDJT should finish the job.
“Shahed drone costs them $30K”
Ukraine shots down about 95% of the Shahed clones Russia sends, and they don’t use two Patriots per Shahed to do it.
The hits were luck.. there’s several write ups from over the years.
Iranian missile had poor accuracy
Analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies examined the Iranian strike on the Nevatim Air Base some 65 kilometers south of Jerusalem in the Negev Desert. They believe Iran used its Emad missile, a variant of the country’s Shahab-3 missile built from a North Korean design.
Assuming Iran targeted Israeli F-35I fighter jet hangars, the James Martin analysts measured the distance between the hangars and the impact zones of the missiles. That gave an average of about 1.2 kilometers for the “circular error probable” — a measurement used by experts to determine a weapon’s accuracy based on the radius of a circle that encompasses 50% of where the missiles landed.
That’s far worse than a 500-meter error circle first estimated by experts for the Emad. Iran separately advertised the Emad to potential international buyers as having a 50-meter circle.
Many projectiles were shot down in attack
The U.S., the United Kingdom, France and Jordan all shot down incoming fire. The Americans claimed to have downed 80 bomb-carrying drones and at least six ballistic missiles. Israeli missile defenses were also activated, though their initial claim of intercepting 99% of the projectiles appeared to be an exaggeration.
U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told the AP they assessed that 50% of the Iranian missiles failed at launch or crashed before reaching their target. That raises further doubts about the abilities of Iran’s missile arsenal.