Posted on 07/25/2025 4:17:25 PM PDT by Mariner
The U.S. Army reportedly fired over 150 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile interceptors to help defend Israel during its 12-day war with Iran earlier this year. If accurate, this would represent roughly a quarter of all THAAD interceptors ordered and/or set to be ordered by the U.S. military to date, according to Pentagon budget documents. Questions about the effectiveness of ship-launched Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors have also emerged from the U.S. Navy’s employment of around 80 of them during the recent Israel-Iran conflict.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the U.S. military expenditures of THAAD and SM-3 interceptors, citing unnamed U.S. officials. American forces also employed ground-based Patriot surface-to-air missile systems and ship-launched SM-2 and SM-6 missiles during the Israel-Iran war in June. Israel’s own extensive air and missile defense capabilities were also heavily engaged during that conflict.
“Operating alongside Israeli systems, THAAD operators burned through munitions at a furious clip, firing more than 150 missiles to shoot down the waves of Iranian ballistic missiles, according to U.S. officials,” per the Journal‘s story. “That is nearly a quarter of the interceptors ever purchased by the Pentagon.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Yes. That is a good question. I think the system is pretty neat from a technology standpoint, but real-world tests should be enlightening.
How is it that “unnamed sources” leak highly classified defense information and everyone on FR takes it as gospel?
There are multiple generations of it
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