New Delhi: Twelve days. That’s all it took for one of many world’s most superior missile defence programs to really feel the load of warfare. Someplace over Israel, in the dead of night sky lit up by alarms and streaks of fireside, America’s THAAD batteries stood guard.
They fired. Once more. Then once more. By the point the smoke cleared, a fifth of America’s Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection stockpile had been used. Between 60 to 80 interceptors – every price over $12 million – launched to intercept Iranian missiles headed towards Israeli cities.
The maths hurts. Near a billion {dollars}, perhaps extra, spent in beneath two weeks. On defence. On safety. On silence.
Iran’s response to the assaults on its nuclear and navy websites got here quick and heavy. Ghadr. Emad. Kheibar Shekan. Then the Fattah. Hypersonic, lethal and arduous to cease. These weren’t random rockets. These have been long-range and high-precision messages geared toward Israel’s core.
And the USA answered, not with phrases, however with metal and radar. The THAADs have been already in place by early 2024, quietly ready. They did their job. However at a worth.
Every missile that soared into the air carried greater than a warhead, it carried weight again residence. The USA solely makes 50 to 60 of those a 12 months. Shedding 80 in a single area means gaps elsewhere. Gaps that don’t present up on cable information. Gaps that linger.
The THAAD was not designed for lengthy wars. It was constructed for brief, sharp strikes for moments when there isn’t any room for failure. North Korea. Iran. Rogue launches. Disaster factors. That was the unique plan.
However this was solely a plan. This was actual. And when the warfare ended, when U.S. President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire, THAAD’s silence returned however the stockpiles didn’t.
On paper, the USA and Israel held the road. Iran’s targets have been hit. Its prime brass shaken. Its plans rattled.
However Tehran’s system didn’t collapse. Its missiles stored coming. And America stored intercepting.
This was not a warfare the USA anticipated to struggle so quickly. However it did. With a few of its costliest arrows shot right into a sky crammed with cheaper hearth.