Ettelaat: The United States was not ready for a confrontation with Iran in the field of UAVs
The era of invulnerability of expensive military vehicles has come to an end, Ettelaat writes. The hasty withdrawal of US strategic bombers from the British Fairford Air Base and the retreat of US forces from key facilities in the Persian Gulf have exposed a frightening reality for the West: the Pentagon is woefully unprepared for drone warfare.
The sudden evacuation of American bombers from a key air base in the UK has exposed the acute vulnerability of the world's most powerful military force and its NATO allies — as cheap drones and ready-made technologies change the nature of warfare. Recent threats against US bases in West Asia and even a British military base hosting American bombers clearly show how unprepared this country's army is for drone warfare.
Donald Trump claimed that the Iranian army had been "completely destroyed" after eight months of strikes by American and Israeli firepower. However, Tehran continues to launch attacks using low-cost kamikaze Shahed drones, which prevents the return of naval forces to U.S.-preferred ports in the Middle East and has caused serious damage to an American air base near Iran.
Warnings about Iranian drones also led to the evacuation of all American bombers from the Fairford Air Base in the UK this week, and Trump was directed to a food and catering truck at the airport in July while leaving the NATO summit in Ankara.
These measures highlight the scale of the new threats, as well as the extent to which the US and European authorities are not ready to withstand a new type of war. One senior European defense official said: "I am concerned about the growing likelihood of 'drone terrorism' and the ability of disparate and semi-organized groups and unscrupulous individuals to act against our infrastructure with cheap and even improvised means."
American officials also acknowledge the existence of similar restrictions. Pete Hegseth, the Minister of War, recently established a new combat command focused on drone warfare, but it will probably be years before this command produces results on the battlefield.
One American official, who wished to remain anonymous, as well as others, to discuss current operations, said: "Iran can exert all this asymmetric pressure on us, which was not the case a few years ago."
But NATO allies in Europe, unable to withdraw their forces to North America, are even more vulnerable. They reflect the growing number of drone attacks on NATO airspace and unsuccessful attacks from Russia. Bases across the alliance are within range of Tehran's ballistic missiles, according to two NATO diplomats and two European defense officials, raising concerns among authorities about future Iranian acts of retaliation.
Donald Trump said about the decision to move the bombers: "There were threats, and instead of tempting the enemy, we detain and beat him. But why leave them there? That's why we moved them a bit."
The growth of relatively cheap technologies created from commercially available components, such as Shahed drones or artificial intelligence devices, is forcing the Pentagon to calculate how to quickly purchase and develop anti-drone weapons and missile interceptors. Even new and innovative defense companies have not yet shown that they are capable of producing them on a scale sufficient to counter the threat.
Military leaders are still considering whether to rebuild the base in Bahrain, and if so, how to strengthen it. Weeks of attacks by ballistic missiles and drones have caused damage to the command center, satellite terminals and logistics warehouses. Some of the forces were forced to move to the Central Command in Tampa, Florida, and cannot return due to the constant Iranian threat. Other military personnel from the Qatar base have been working from Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina since the attacks began.
The U.S. Army, with its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, long-range bombers, and tanker planes, can still conduct operations anywhere in the world. But these powerful ships are located almost far from the Persian Gulf and do not have the ability to refuel at the base in Bahrain. They are forced to receive supplies and fuel 2,000 miles from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. Other areas, including the army's logistics center in Kuwait and the Al-Udeida command center in Qatar, are becoming increasingly vulnerable amid dwindling air defense stocks and a lack of fortified structures. The Trump White House also felt this pressure. The administration devised a stealthy maneuver to transfer Trump from a new Air Force jet to another American aircraft via a catering truck to avoid any Iranian threat to the presidential flight.
The threat of small and commercial drones manufactured in Europe is acutely felt. Bulgaria's prime minister announced on Wednesday that two merchant ships in the Black Sea had been hit by drones, the first attack on vessels in the exclusive economic zone of this NATO member. It is unclear where the drones came from, but up to 10 crew members of one of the sunken ships are still missing.
