US to deploy about 100 troops to operate advanced anti-missile system in Israel amid heightened tensions

CNN — The US will send an advanced anti-missile system — and US troops to operate it — to Israel “to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1,” the Pentagon said Sunday.

It is not the first time the US has deployed the system, the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, to the Middle East, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in the statement, and the system was also deployed to Israel in 2019 for an exercise. But the deployment of additional US troops to Israel is notable amid the heightened tensions between Israel and Iran, and as the region braces for a potential Israeli attack on Iran that could continue to escalate hostilities.

A battery of 6 launchers is fully loaded with 48 missiles. At the given rate of 2 defensive missiles fired per target, the THADD is out of business after 24 or 36 Iranian targets. It takes 30 minutes to reload.

What if the Iranians send 100 or 200 missiles an hour?

Another “wonder weapon” that won’t mean much at all.

The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

It’s designed to intercept and destroy short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their terminal phase of flight.

Once again, Ronaldus Magnus is vindicated. They said that hitting a bullet (missile) with another bullet (missile) was beyond human capability. President Reagan knew otherwise. When set free, American ingenuity can accomplish......almost anything.

President Trump let the drillers Drill Baby Drill, and we became the Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas.

Elon Musk came to America because, when allowed, the American people still want to reach for the stars. The Hussein/Biden/Harris Regime tries to stop Musk and SpaceX, but as we witnessed this morning, you can’t keep a good man down.

For one thing, few of the Iranian ballistic missiles not intercepted actually hit their targets. Iran’s claims of accuracy are either wildly exaggerated (likely) or buffoonery (”we meant to hit that empty spot”) (uh-huh...) or Israel is doing some sort of “messing” with the guidance / targeting, maybe right from launch. (Seems less likely.) Either way, Israel (or the US) only has to actually intercept maybe 10% of the Iranian missiles, if it comes down to it.

2nd, we have seen no indication Iran can actually coordinate the sort of attack you envision.

3rd, at some point you just let lesser things be hit. If, for example, a small kibbutz is about to be hit, well, warning is given, they should be in shelter, and you say a (quick) prayer. Material assets destroyed are probably not huge. Yes, this is a harsh thing (a few lives likely lost despite the warnings) but this IS war.

4th, and perhaps most important, in a continuing action the gloves come off, and Israel disrupts the attack as much as possible. Shoot the archer, so to speak. This means destroying command and control, launchers, storage, and if need be, simply make it too painful for Iran to continue. I still think the best tactic is to first remove their limited refined products capacity. No fuel - then what?

Also, it should be mentioned that the purpose of sending a THAAD battery may not be primarily for IT to shoot down missiles. THAAD has impressive long range detection capability. 1800 miles, IIRC. If THAAD tracking data on missiles being launched in Iran or Yemen can be coordinated with Israeli defenses, that might be a pretty big deal.

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