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> there had been questions as to why the various highly advanced air defense systems and sensors, both American and Qatari, which would normally provide alert t

> there had been questions as to why the various highly advanced air defense systems and sensors, both American and Qatari, which would normally provide alert to an impending attack on Qatar, had not provided warning and defense. Yeah good question, and their response is basically saying that they didn't have it turned on ? > we had no indications and warnings of, because our surveillance and all our attention was not put on [it], What is the point in it then ? Surely they're there to notify you in real time? I don't buy this, maybe if I can put my tinfoil hat on, they did know but play dumb because Quatar is such a critical partner in the middle east, and to let Isreal do what they want and launch a strike would be seen very unfavorably by the Qataris. This way they get to claim "oh we didn't know about it". And expect everyone to just believe that. Or it is how they say and it feels that those notification systems are not really sufficient.

matwood 1y ago
> they did know but play dumb because Quatar is such a critical partner in the middle east They just gave Trump a jet so of course the administration will have to play dumb. People/countries will quit paying bribes if they don't get anything for them.
mikeyouse 1y ago
I don't think it's that complicated - the warning and air defense systems aren't tuned toward an attack from Israeli jets - they're looking for cruise missiles from Iran (roughly North) or Yemen (roughly South) -- the missiles from Israel were ballistic missiles fired from the West over the Red Sea.
- sudosysgen 1y ago
  Houthis use long range drones and cruise missiles which can easily be fired from the West over the Red Sea. There is no plausible situation where they simply don't point the radars that way. There is also SBIRS and radars across Saudi Arabia. By far the likeliest scenario is that the US detected the attack and made the choice not to defend Qatar.
  - limagnolia 1y ago
    Except that Qatar's own systems also did not issue any early warnings.
    - sudosysgen 1y ago
      The system with long range detection radars (THAAD) is operated by the US, not Qatar. Qatar's radars would not be able to detect a ballistic missile until it was already too late, as detection range for BMs is only around 100km.
  - mikeyouse 1y ago
    Your second sentence is part of the answer to your first one... You'd need air launched ballistic missiles (which Israel used) to avoid detection by Saudi radars. The Houthis don't have those. You'd need jets capable of operations over the Red Sea - which the Houthis don't have. If they did have those things, they'd certainly use them to attack Israel or Riyadh, not Qatar.
    - sudosysgen 1y ago
      ALBMs are not any harder to detect than normal ballistic missiles. You don't need jets to go over the Red Sea either, Houthi cruise missiles can operate over the Red Sea and then change course to hit their targets.
      - mikeyouse 1y ago
        If you know where they’re launching from, you can equally detect ALBMs or ground launched ones - but given that ALBMs have mobile launch ‘pads’ with thousand+ mile ranges, they’re actually much harder to detect. Hence why we’ve just started rolling out the next gen OPIR this year.. You don't need jets to go over the Red Sea either, Houthi cruise missiles can operate over the Red Sea and then change course to hit their targets. You do if you want ALBMs… the “A” is pretty important for that acronym. And cruise missiles are not ballistic missiles. Cruise missiles that tracked up the Red Sea and then crossed 1,200km of Saudi Arabia while heading for Qatar would obviously be detected (and likely shot down) by US and Saudi air defenses.
- moralestapia 1y ago
  >air defense systems aren't tuned "Oh no, our whole city was destroyed and we couldn't do anything because they changed the tuning on their missiles a day before." Mega LMAO, the things one reads these days.
  - mikeyouse 1y ago
    "Tuned" as in the directional radars that makeup the backbone of their air defenses weren't looking West. The TPQ-36 has a 90º azimuth - it can literally only look in 1 direction. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/TPQ-36_Firefinder_radar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/TPQ-36_Firefinder_radar) For fixed threats - e.g. detecting Iranian strikes, the TPS-80 radars are made to be stationary to provide better coverage/resolution of the direction of incoming missiles. The US uses satellite systems that can detect ground-launched ballistic missiles - and if we're looking with our AEW&C, we can likely see an air-launched one, but we had no reason to be looking for air-launched ballistic missiles over the Red Sea. Don't take my word for it.. > The Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighters were over the Red Sea when they fired air-launched ballistic missiles, an unnamed U.S. defense official told the Associated Press. In this way, Israeli aircraft didn’t need to enter the airspace of any Middle East country, and the missiles arrived from a direction that the air defenses in Qatar were not focused on looking. The missiles would have also passed over Saudi Arabia at very high altitudes, likely outside the Earth’s atmosphere. https://www.twz.com/air/new-info-on-how-u-s-military-was-caught-off-guard-by-israeli-strike-on-qatar https://www.twz.com/air/new-info-on-how-u-s-military-was-cau...

matwood 1y ago

> they did know but play dumb because Quatar is such a critical partner in the middle east They just gave Trump a jet so of course the administration will have to play dumb. People/countries will quit paying bribes if they don't get anything for them.

mikeyouse 1y ago

I don't think it's that complicated - the warning and air defense systems aren't tuned toward an attack from Israeli jets - they're looking for cruise missiles from Iran (roughly North) or Yemen (roughly South) -- the missiles from Israel were ballistic missiles fired from the West over the Red Sea.

sudosysgen 1y ago
Houthis use long range drones and cruise missiles which can easily be fired from the West over the Red Sea. There is no plausible situation where they simply don't point the radars that way. There is also SBIRS and radars across Saudi Arabia. By far the likeliest scenario is that the US detected the attack and made the choice not to defend Qatar.
- limagnolia 1y ago
  Except that Qatar's own systems also did not issue any early warnings.
  - sudosysgen 1y ago
    The system with long range detection radars (THAAD) is operated by the US, not Qatar. Qatar's radars would not be able to detect a ballistic missile until it was already too late, as detection range for BMs is only around 100km.
- mikeyouse 1y ago
  Your second sentence is part of the answer to your first one... You'd need air launched ballistic missiles (which Israel used) to avoid detection by Saudi radars. The Houthis don't have those. You'd need jets capable of operations over the Red Sea - which the Houthis don't have. If they did have those things, they'd certainly use them to attack Israel or Riyadh, not Qatar.
  - sudosysgen 1y ago
    ALBMs are not any harder to detect than normal ballistic missiles. You don't need jets to go over the Red Sea either, Houthi cruise missiles can operate over the Red Sea and then change course to hit their targets.
    - mikeyouse 1y ago
      If you know where they’re launching from, you can equally detect ALBMs or ground launched ones - but given that ALBMs have mobile launch ‘pads’ with thousand+ mile ranges, they’re actually much harder to detect. Hence why we’ve just started rolling out the next gen OPIR this year.. You don't need jets to go over the Red Sea either, Houthi cruise missiles can operate over the Red Sea and then change course to hit their targets. You do if you want ALBMs… the “A” is pretty important for that acronym. And cruise missiles are not ballistic missiles. Cruise missiles that tracked up the Red Sea and then crossed 1,200km of Saudi Arabia while heading for Qatar would obviously be detected (and likely shot down) by US and Saudi air defenses.
moralestapia 1y ago
>air defense systems aren't tuned "Oh no, our whole city was destroyed and we couldn't do anything because they changed the tuning on their missiles a day before." Mega LMAO, the things one reads these days.
- mikeyouse 1y ago
  "Tuned" as in the directional radars that makeup the backbone of their air defenses weren't looking West. The TPQ-36 has a 90º azimuth - it can literally only look in 1 direction. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/TPQ-36_Firefinder_radar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/TPQ-36_Firefinder_radar) For fixed threats - e.g. detecting Iranian strikes, the TPS-80 radars are made to be stationary to provide better coverage/resolution of the direction of incoming missiles. The US uses satellite systems that can detect ground-launched ballistic missiles - and if we're looking with our AEW&C, we can likely see an air-launched one, but we had no reason to be looking for air-launched ballistic missiles over the Red Sea. Don't take my word for it.. > The Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighters were over the Red Sea when they fired air-launched ballistic missiles, an unnamed U.S. defense official told the Associated Press. In this way, Israeli aircraft didn’t need to enter the airspace of any Middle East country, and the missiles arrived from a direction that the air defenses in Qatar were not focused on looking. The missiles would have also passed over Saudi Arabia at very high altitudes, likely outside the Earth’s atmosphere. https://www.twz.com/air/new-info-on-how-u-s-military-was-caught-off-guard-by-israeli-strike-on-qatar https://www.twz.com/air/new-info-on-how-u-s-military-was-cau...