To prosecute war against Russia, China, or Iran, protection of the major forward bases of the United States Air Force would be the prerequisite upon which success would be predicated.
To adequately cover even one of these large airbases against missile strikes of just 100-200 units of high-performance drones, cruise-missiles, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic missiles — plus numerous decoys — would easily require an entire Patriot battalion.
Even with a 100% interception rate, a pair of 100-missile strike packages over the course of a day would still compel a PAC-3 burn rate of at least 300 missiles, given that, as a general rule, two PAC-3 missiles are launched at every incoming target.
But of course, the interception rate would be considerably lower than 100%. And given that the Patriot command, radar, and launcher units — along with missile storage sites — would be primary targets, there would be a substantial attrition rate of the highly immobile Patriot systems themselves. (The Russians have already clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of the Patriot systems to counter-battery missile strikes. At least three Patriot batteries have been destroyed in Ukraine.)
In an attempt to cover just three large airbases against a series of salvos of 100+ missiles of various types, the entire US stockpile of PAC-3 interceptors could very conceivably be exhausted in little more than a week or two.
Current annual production could easily be consumed in little more than a day or two.
This is the reality of 21st century high-intensity conflict against an adversary with the capability to shoot back — a kind of war for which the United States military is woefully ill-prepared, both materially and doctrinally.
Tag: vulnerabilities
The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”

Littoral combat ships were supposed to launch the Navy into the future. Instead they broke down across the globe and many of their weapons never worked. Now the Navy is getting rid of them. One is less than five years old.
The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”
NATO learning hard lessons about its future in Ukraine
Ukraine war shows NATO is ill-prepared to defend even its own territories while massive weapons expenditure exposes US in Asia-Pacific
NATO learning hard lessons about its future in Ukraine
Funny How The UFO Narrative Coincides With The Race To Weaponize Space
These stories about the space militarization race aren’t getting the attention the much more entertaining UFO stories are getting, but it seems likely that those who are responsible for moving the war machinery around are paying a lot more attention to the former than the latter.
Funny How The UFO Narrative Coincides With The Race To Weaponize Space
Bad News: NATO Tanks, Planes, And Artillery Unlikely To Win Ukraine War
There is still another factor that gets far too little consideration in Western press. The tanks Ukraine is counting on are not, in themselves, transformative technology that will greatly increase battlefield capabilities. In fact, the Leopard 2 and M1A1 Abrams have shown themselves vulnerable in combat.
Bad News: NATO Tanks, Planes, And Artillery Unlikely To Win Ukraine War
US puts energy operators on ‘heightened alert’
The warning comes after the apparent sabotage of Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines
US puts energy operators on ‘heightened alert’ (Bloomberg Article)
Researchers Say the CIA’s Amateurish Websites Led to the Exposure of Critical Assets
Researchers determined a network of 885 websites used by the CIA was so easy to spot and crack that an “amateur sleuth” could have mapped it.
Researchers Say the CIA’s Amateurish Websites Led to the Exposure of Critical Assets (archived)
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