4 ms·

Laser Rocket Anti-Drone Systems Being Rushed to U.S. Forces in the Middle East

14 points by peutetre 3y ago

jc88heh 3y ago
No rush to Ukraine tho cuz the US has such a bizarre long term security strategy -> https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier/ https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircra...
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  To be fair, this isn't hypocritical. These systems are being provided to U.S. forces, albeit ones that may fire in defence of Israel. That said, this is the end of nuclear non-proliferation. Ukraine giving up its nukes was a mistake, Israel developing them a masterstroke and Iran having failed yet to do so damaging but fixable.
  - jc88heh 3y ago
    Probably right. Pakistan having nukes has kept India from pulling a Russia on Kashmir. Wonder who is going to supply them nukes though.
  - dh2022 3y ago
    Ukraine did not have the codes for the Soviet nukes stationed on their territory so the nukes were unusable. It made sense for them to give them away; otherwise their options would have been either sell what they can on the black market or maintain them at considerable cost.
    - Rinzler89 3y ago
      Plus 90's bankrupt post communist Ukraine had no money to properly maintain those nukes. Nukes aren't very shelf stable, they need constant maintenance to be firing ready.
      - baybal2 3y ago
        [dead]
    - adriancr 3y ago
      take the nuke apart and rebuild it with a different controller, no need to know codes. (that is if they actually had codes different then 0000) they likely gave them up do to political reasons (they still had russian influenced politicians in charge plus threats if they did not)
      - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        > take the nuke apart and rebuild it with a different controller Or just carefully reverse engineer while harvesting the HEU to jumpstart your own programme. In the midst, message ambiguity about whether you’ve cracked the codes.
    - baybal2 3y ago
      [dead]
  - credit_guy 3y ago
    > Iran having failed yet to do so damaging but fixable I am not sure Iran has failed to build nukes. Some countries choose the strategy of being "threshold nuclear states", also called "nuclear latency" [1]. With this strategy you can extract more concessions for not crossing the threshold, than if you already crossed the threshold. Once you do build a bomb, what is next? You need to build a stockpile, and that can be quite expensive. Israel is in a different position. Israel doesn't need to extract concessions, it really intends to use its nukes in certain scenarios, because it is under an existential threat. But Iran is not under an existential threat, and they know that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_latency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_latency
    - rapjr9 3y ago
      Seems possible Iran bought some nukes from Russia. Russia wanted drones and missiles, Iran may have set the price for them to be a few nukes or help in getting nukes onto missiles.
      - credit_guy 3y ago
        That is extremely unlikely, for several reasons. The first is that Russia has many enemies and it doesn't like the idea of some of them getting their hands on nukes. Second, the great geostrategic ambition of Russia is to get a warm ocean port, or, to use the metaphor they like, to "wash their boots in the Indian Ocean". That was within their reach immediately after WW2, and resulted in the Iran crisis of 1946 [1]. There are rumors that Truman threatened the USSR with "dropping one on them" [2] if they don't retreat from Iran, and they are probably unfounded, but the nuclear threat was certainly there, and Stalin certainly acted on it. Russia wants to preserve the possibility that one day they will be able to march again towards the Indian Ocean. Last: nukes are useful for a nation is you demonstrate that you have them. If Iran has nukes right now, keeping that a secret does not serve its interests in the best way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_crisis_of_1946 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_crisis_of_1946 [2] https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ops/iran.htm https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ops/iran.htm
  - rasz 3y ago
    >Iran having failed yet to do so Recent inaction towards Iran despite Iranian: - drones killing civilians in Ukraine - rockets/missiles destabilizing Africa (RSF) - rockets/missiles being delivered to terrorists in the region to target Israel - rockets and cruise missiles targeting Strait of Hormuz up to sinking tankers (Rubymar) - military hijacking ships (last one MSC Aries three days ago) and stealing its cargo (oil pumped from at least one tanker) - drone/cruise/ballistic assault on Israel suggests US might know something we dont. That, or its just about gas prices before elections https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/15/ukraine-russia-oil-refinery-attacks/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/15/...
  - Log_out_ 3y ago
    Every ex-empire country is now in the market. Pakistan, NK and India must be swamped by offers for nuclear participation, by khazakstan, Vietnam, etc. Trump did it.. He bankrupted the US alliance concept.

14 points by peutetre 3y ago

No rush to Ukraine tho cuz the US has such a bizarre long term security strategy -> https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier/ https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircra...

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
To be fair, this isn't hypocritical. These systems are being provided to U.S. forces, albeit ones that may fire in defence of Israel. That said, this is the end of nuclear non-proliferation. Ukraine giving up its nukes was a mistake, Israel developing them a masterstroke and Iran having failed yet to do so damaging but fixable.
- jc88heh 3y ago
  Probably right. Pakistan having nukes has kept India from pulling a Russia on Kashmir. Wonder who is going to supply them nukes though.
- dh2022 3y ago
  Ukraine did not have the codes for the Soviet nukes stationed on their territory so the nukes were unusable. It made sense for them to give them away; otherwise their options would have been either sell what they can on the black market or maintain them at considerable cost.
  - Rinzler89 3y ago
    Plus 90's bankrupt post communist Ukraine had no money to properly maintain those nukes. Nukes aren't very shelf stable, they need constant maintenance to be firing ready.
    - baybal2 3y ago
      [dead]
  - adriancr 3y ago
    take the nuke apart and rebuild it with a different controller, no need to know codes. (that is if they actually had codes different then 0000) they likely gave them up do to political reasons (they still had russian influenced politicians in charge plus threats if they did not)
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > take the nuke apart and rebuild it with a different controller Or just carefully reverse engineer while harvesting the HEU to jumpstart your own programme. In the midst, message ambiguity about whether you’ve cracked the codes.
  - baybal2 3y ago
    [dead]
- credit_guy 3y ago
  > Iran having failed yet to do so damaging but fixable I am not sure Iran has failed to build nukes. Some countries choose the strategy of being "threshold nuclear states", also called "nuclear latency" [1]. With this strategy you can extract more concessions for not crossing the threshold, than if you already crossed the threshold. Once you do build a bomb, what is next? You need to build a stockpile, and that can be quite expensive. Israel is in a different position. Israel doesn't need to extract concessions, it really intends to use its nukes in certain scenarios, because it is under an existential threat. But Iran is not under an existential threat, and they know that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_latency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_latency
  - rapjr9 3y ago
    Seems possible Iran bought some nukes from Russia. Russia wanted drones and missiles, Iran may have set the price for them to be a few nukes or help in getting nukes onto missiles.
    - credit_guy 3y ago
      That is extremely unlikely, for several reasons. The first is that Russia has many enemies and it doesn't like the idea of some of them getting their hands on nukes. Second, the great geostrategic ambition of Russia is to get a warm ocean port, or, to use the metaphor they like, to "wash their boots in the Indian Ocean". That was within their reach immediately after WW2, and resulted in the Iran crisis of 1946 [1]. There are rumors that Truman threatened the USSR with "dropping one on them" [2] if they don't retreat from Iran, and they are probably unfounded, but the nuclear threat was certainly there, and Stalin certainly acted on it. Russia wants to preserve the possibility that one day they will be able to march again towards the Indian Ocean. Last: nukes are useful for a nation is you demonstrate that you have them. If Iran has nukes right now, keeping that a secret does not serve its interests in the best way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_crisis_of_1946 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_crisis_of_1946 [2] https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ops/iran.htm https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ops/iran.htm
- rasz 3y ago
  >Iran having failed yet to do so Recent inaction towards Iran despite Iranian: - drones killing civilians in Ukraine - rockets/missiles destabilizing Africa (RSF) - rockets/missiles being delivered to terrorists in the region to target Israel - rockets and cruise missiles targeting Strait of Hormuz up to sinking tankers (Rubymar) - military hijacking ships (last one MSC Aries three days ago) and stealing its cargo (oil pumped from at least one tanker) - drone/cruise/ballistic assault on Israel suggests US might know something we dont. That, or its just about gas prices before elections https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/15/ukraine-russia-oil-refinery-attacks/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/15/...
- Log_out_ 3y ago
  Every ex-empire country is now in the market. Pakistan, NK and India must be swamped by offers for nuclear participation, by khazakstan, Vietnam, etc. Trump did it.. He bankrupted the US alliance concept.