US Iraq and Syria bases lack effective air defenses

For years I have complained that vulnerable American bases in Iraq and Syria lacked adequate air defenses. Bottom line: they still do.

It is reported that the Biden administration asked for a “pause” in the upcoming Israeli land attack on Gaza so the Pentagon could rush air defenses to the Middle East.

In the past week 21 US personnel received minor injuries due to drone attacks at Al Assad Airbase, Iraq, and Al-Tanf Garrison, Syria.

There have been at least 14 attacks on these bases in the past week, perhaps more than 20.  The numbers vary as the Pentagon slowly confesses what transpired.

The strikes against US bases have been carried out either by Iranian-supplied drones operated by Iranian proxy militias or by Iranian-supplied rockets operated by the same Iranian proxy militias.

There is no doubt about the source of the attacks. But the administration does not show any interest in challenging Iran.

US bases have very limited protection, made worse by the fact that the US does not pursue the pro-Iranian militias firing these weapons at American personnel.

US troops primarily rely on the C-RAM.  C-RAM is a land-adaptation of the US Navy’s Phalanx gun system. The rapid-fire but short-range Phalanx system has never stopped any attack on a naval ship, and things are not much different when it comes to knocking out drones or rockets.

C-RAM, like Phalanx, has problems at night because it primarily relies on visual recognition of incoming threats. Iranian drones are made of plastic or other non-reflective material, so they don’t have much, if any radar signature, and also are hard to see, especially at night or in low light conditions.

Even so, if the Pentagon story is right, some rockets and drones have been shot down, probably by C-RAM. Luckily the rockets being used are highly inaccurate and can be tracked by radar, although hitting them is another matter.

But the big story is that the US has not provided effective weapons to protect US bases.

They could have done so, at least in part, had they heeded warnings and really cared about our troops in the field. Obviously our soldiers were a low priority.

The US bought two batteries of Israel’s Iron Dome system and have had them for a number of years, allegedly studying how to use them. For a while they shipped Iron Dome to Guam, for no apparent reason because the threat to Guam from China is from heavy missiles. Iron Dome is designed to go after terrorist weapons, not heavy missiles. Now the Pentagon has announced that the two Iron Dome batteries are being boxed up and sent to Israel, where they are needed.

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