Posted on 04/10/2025 2:23:41 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
US military airlifters flew over 70 cargo loads of equipment from the Pacific to the Middle East, moving a Patriot air defense battalion from a priority theater to the tense region, a top commander said on Thursday.
The recent relocation of the high-profile air defense system comes amid a broader build-up of US military assets in the Middle East, including aircraft and warships. Tensions with Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen are running high.
During testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Adm. Sam Paparo, who leads US Indo-Pacific Command, was asked about the military's capability gaps that exist in his theater.
He singled out cargo lift as an area of concern.
"For instance," Paparo said, "just having moved a Patriot battalion into the CENTCOM AOR, it took 73 C-17 loads to move" that battalion. He was referring to the US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East region. "Our lift requirements must be paid attention to," he told lawmakers.
A Boeing-made C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft can carry around 170,000 pounds of cargo, with a maximum takeoff weight of 585,000 pounds. The US military has more than 200 of these planes across the armed forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
We need bigger planes and more of them................
Or was this the DEI route that goes past South Africa ?
I would say the Patriots need to be replenished. We should not need to airlift them from a high risk area. How many have been sent to the Ukraine without being replaced?
So a battalion has 32 launchers with 128 ready missiles.
Dear Pete from the DOD who hired this jerk 72 planeloads flown by C17s my aching anal area. It’s all lies. This idiot who made this statement has no idea about airlifts in the USAF. First, 1 C5 could handle 50% of the movement, so two C5Ms could have finished this load to claim 72 C17s is a lie, a joke, or a misprint. This happens when sailors make statements about transport aircraft...2500 hours in the C141, 12 years going today in C130s, so please check this jerk out, Pete, and start getting rid of the 60+ 4-star jerks in the 5-sided dummy box...
C-5M Super Galaxy is much larger than the C-17.
Patriot batteries were designed for the smaller C-141, so there was a lot of other stuff transferred but not named, supposedly including THAAD system.
“How many have been sent to the Ukraine without being replaced?”
Having been a military project manager, I can offer some perspective. Let’s say Raytheon, in ordinary prewar times was under contract to deliver ten systems to the US, two to Isreal, three to Britian, and one to Poland. The Ukraine war starts. The US sends, three I think, systems to Ukraine, probably from units delivered but not allocated to a zone. The military tells Raytheon, to spin up faster production. That’s hard.
There’s a small galaxy of suppliers each of which has its own limiting factors. Suppose they can increase the overall production by three per year without difficulty. Meanwhile all up and down the supply chain the program manager is working with suppliers to get them to ramp up. That takes money and time…and personnel. The money part is easy. I’m pretty sure the Pentagon opened the money printer to full speed. But some things just take time. It’s not like Scotty in the Enterprises’ engine room who can turn a four-hour job into four minutes. If it takes a month, it takes a month. Average to significantly increase production on something this complex as this would be one to three years.
So, what to do? The PM and the government will negotiate with the other buyers. Perhaps they’ll get a few cut rate jet engines delivered now from stores. Perhaps they’ll get some other hardware on the cheap. But something will be found that entices them to either take a later date or to reallocate their forces to cover areas of mutual concern. There are lots of options. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
From the title it sounds as if the Navy pulled the Patriots out of the ocean.
I hope they’re waterproof.
We currently only only produce 500 Patriot missiles per year, and Ukraine burned through a bunch of them, plus we sent more to Israel. Lockheed Martin has been contracted to up production to 650 per year, but from what I’ve read won’t get there until later this year. I imagine our supply of them is getting low.
Why is this being reported period?
I’m planning a major strike, expect retaliation so here’s my plans...in public.
May as well deploy a shit ton of fireworks while deer hunting.
Maybe they want it reported to scare the socks off the Iranians.
Best I can tell, the Houthis don’t do socks (and have very ugly toes). Which proves they are savages. (When I was a tiny girl, and in my rush to go out and play I tried to skip putting on my socks, my mother would scold me with “Only savages to without socks! To this day, I make sure to wear my socks lol.)
Would have been less if they had C-5’s going.
I’ve been involved in moving a Patriot battlalion. 72 C-17 loads is about right. Patriots are big.
-Each launcher system has a 10 ton truck (~30’ long) and trailer (also ~30’ long) and each is ~8’ wide. You have to move 32 of those pairs.
-You have to move fire control/radar systems, (at least 4 of those) also big.
-Then you have to move the ammo section, also big truck/trailers each about ~30’ each. There are at least 32 of those systems.
-Add the Headquartees and Headquarters Battery with BN operations/lovistics centers, maintenance section, medics, chaplain, etc
You get 72 planes.
These systems were intended to move by ship, moving them by air is only when you have no other choice.
I forgot to add in ammunition. That’s a 128 missile containers, plus
Reloads.
Need more C-17s.
That’s one battles worth.
“We need bigger planes and more of them.”
We had those opportunities, but with “The End of History” there was no reason to maintain a strong and advanced military. The fact that we were, at the same time, plotting to engage Russia in a war in Ukraine didn’t seem to be a contradiction to the ‘geniuses’ running our country.
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