Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
We pulled out troops who had a mission in Syria to aid allies fighting for US policies and then the Pentagon announces new troop deployments to Saudi Arabia:
The Pentagon said Friday that the deployment to Saudi Arabia will include two fighter squadrons, one air expeditionary win[sic], two Patriot batteries and one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
That should read an air expeditionary wing, but this deployment makes no sense. The Saudi infrastructure was attacked by low-level, possibly terrain following cruise missiles and drones. I see nothing in this deployment that will deal with that threat, especially not a THAAD system.
7 comments
It certainly doesn’t make any sense. But given the current US Administrations, that’s unsurprising.
The THAAD is designed as a defense against ICBM’s & TBM’s. So, unless the Saudi’s are planning something that will make someone with those weapons want to nuke them, THAAD is useless. It only has a relatively small defense range (claimed as 200km radius), one THAAD can only defend a specific area. Be interested in what that area is.
I don’t know if the claim about the USS Harry S Truman being unable to sail is true (or half-true), as given the Navy’s history (especially since the Shrubbery) of poor maintenance of it’s asset’s, it certainly could be true. It’s one thing the USA has in common with Russia now anyway.
“Velly interesting… But stupid!” (2nd time this Month I’ve had reason to use that famous Arte Johnson quote in his role as Wolfgang in Laugh-In.) 😉 😀
Maybe the THAAD is to protect US resources? The Patriot system is for SCUDs, and not terrible effective at that role. As Arte says “interesting, but stupid”. The Saudis had better have paid in advance. They aren’t any better at paying their bills than Trump.
Rumsfeld started the penny pinching that has led to several failures. There aren’t enough people on board to handle routine maintenance. Sea water isn’t kind to metal ships, and sea air isn’t good for electrical or electronic equipment.
It makes perfect sense if the United States is preparing to start a war with Iran. Iran does have semi-ballistic missiles by the thousands thanks to their friendship with North Korea (heck, they even have the capability for ballistic missiles, they’ve fired satellites into orbit on their own rockets after all), and Iran has promised to turn the Strait of Hormuz into the Strait of Death and also destroy the oil infrastructure of all U.S. allies in the region if the United States does the crazy.
If Trump is told that the only way to stay in office and avoid going to jail is war with Iran….
Interesting times we live in. By the Chinese definition. Eeep.
Regarding the carrier availability, G.W.’s wars in the Middle East caused the carriers to be deployed for far longer than they were designed to be deployed in one go. The shipyards are currently full of carriers waiting for their scheduleed 18 month maintenance cycles needed by nuclear carriers to refresh their nuclear fuel, if you try to run carriers longer without their refresh you a) risk damaging their reactors in irrepairable ways, and b) lose efficiency, meaning the carriers are slower and bigger targets and might not be able to run all their war-fighting equipment in combat (all of which requires significant power). Basically carriers that should have gone in 8 years ago didn’t go in until 4 years ago, causing a backup at the yards because they weren’t designed to run this many maintenance cycles in parallel. The U.S. Navy was designed around WW2 — go to war, fight for 4 years, win, go home — not for this global War on Terra that has no definite end. Delaying maintenance for 4 years to win a war is one thing. Delaying maintenance for 18 years to, uhm, not win, ends up with the Navy in its current dire straits.
This was… mostly unexpected. I suspect Erdogan is either intimidating the US forces or testing the US Governments resolve (he knows he has Trump lip-locked to he arse, but not so sure about the rest of the WH). If Troops there are killed, it is en the ENTIRE Administration (GOP & DEM), not just Trumplestiltskin.
https://twitter.com/RubenGallego/status/1183161156866691072
Sorry Badtux. Didn’t see your comments. Yeah, I agree.
Typos… Drat!
“lip-locked to he” –> “lip-locked to his”
“it is en the” –> “it is on the”
OT: Nice to see you have electricity, BadTux. PG&E – millions for lobbyists but nothing for maintenance.
Speaking of maintenance, Ronnie Raygun was a proponent of deferring preventative maintenance to save money for tax breaks. Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) rounds have reduced the number of facilities available for dockside maintenance, making the problem even worse. Obviously W’s Iraq War was a disaster for overall readiness. It was an unnecessary war that strained resources while Rumsfeld was slicing and dicing the military including the Guard and Reserves.
You’re probably right about the current Resident looking to divert attention from his ‘high crimes & misdemeanors’ with a war. There are no “adults” left to provide order and the GOP Congresscritters have traded their souls and consciences for knee pads.