Iran’s military may be badly damaged by the U.S. and Israel’s campaign. But that damage has exposed a more enduring threat: asymmetric warfare, in which individuals or small groups of militants can pose threats strategic to the American military.
Iran’s military may be badly damaged by the U.S. and Israel’s campaign. But that damage has exposed a more enduring threat: asymmetric warfare, in which individuals or small groups of militants can pose threats strategic to the American military.
Killing an F15 with a manpad is pretty lucky. F15s can make themselves immune simply by fling higher and faster. The missiles that can climb up there are as big as a telephone pole.
However aircraft like the A10 and all helicopters are vulnerable to this threat. And since the missiles are small, cheap, and easy to conceal, there is no way to counter this threat without physically controlling the territory. Ask Russia.
I was having trouble understanding how Iran pulled this off, until I read that Russia sold them an advanced manpad called a “9K333 Verba” last December. Uses 3 different sensors to distinguish a target from countermeasures and is effective up to 15,000 feet. Not ideal to be flying low in a country with a bunch of those wandering around.
Not necessarily lucky. There are basically only two reasons why an F-15 would be flying that low over Iran:
I think the former is more likely than the latter, though in the best case scenario it’s a mix of both. In either case, it’s less luck than the US hitting a limiting factor in its operations and being forced into a position where MANPADS are a threat to fighters
They’re flying B52s over Iran now.
Trump’s rhetoric can’t stop SAMs so if Iran still has that capability I’d be curious why they’re not using it. Remember it’s still the US military, and squashing air defenses is like their whole deal.
Over, or near? If over what part of Iran? So far, as far as I’m aware, they’ve been using the B-52s with standoff munitions. Maybe they’re using them on Kharg island, but that’s an island off the coast. The air defences are going to get thicker when they get further into the country.