Originally published in The Hill. The attacks on the oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in Saudi Arabia are neon flashing warning signs of the threat presented by the proliferation of low flying precision guided weapons like drones and cruise missiles. These attacks were highly successful, despite the apparent presence of air defenses. This illustrates...
In early June, the U.S. Air Force conducted air and missile defense drills alongside multiple allies at Aviano Air Base in Italy and other locations in Europe. Known as Astral Knight 2019, the exercise integrated airmen, soldiers, and sailors from the United States, Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia to train and test allied interoperability. Terminal High...
On December 10, India test launched its Agni-5 nuclear-capable ICBM off the Odisha coast. Indian defense sources said this was India’s seventh successful trial of the Agni-5, which was conducted by the Strategic Forces Command and Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) scientists. During the test, the missile’s navigation and guidance systems “guided the missile...
On December 4, Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, commander of the Iranian Air Force, announced the country’s plans to increase the range of its air-to-air missiles and ammunition. In his interview with Iran’s Fars News Agency, General Nasirzadeh specified that Iran is “after Beyond-Visual-Range (BVR) missiles and ammunition” and that it intends to develop long-range, smart...
A new challenge faces the joint force: the prospect of conflict with a near-peer adversary who has spent two decades going to school on the U.S. way of war. Potential adversaries have integrated air defenses and precision-strike weapons that can hold forward-based U.S. forces at risk, complicate maneuver and impair freedom of action.
