Monday, September 16, 2019

Is The Era Of Fighter Jets And Air Supremacy Coming To An End After This Weekend's Drone Attacks?

Smoke is seen following an attack on an Aramco factory in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, September 14, 2019. Videos obtained by Reuters

The Guardian: Middle East drones signal end to era of fast jet air supremacy

Tiny, cheap, unmanned and hard-to-detect aircraft are transforming conflicts across region

In the history of modern warfare, “own the skies, win the war” has been a constant maxim. Countries with the best technology and biggest budgets have devoted tens of billions to building modern air forces, confident they will continue to give their militaries primacy in almost any conflict.

Tiny, cheap, unmanned aircraft have changed that, especially over the battlefields of the Middle East. In the past three months alone, drones have made quite an impact in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and possibly now Saudi Arabia, where half the country’s oil production - and up to 7% of the world’s global supply – has been taken offline by a blitz that caused no air raid sirens and seems to have eluded the region’s most advanced air warning systems.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The era of fighter jets and air supremacy is not coming to an end. The real concern is air defense. Saudi Arabia has spent billions to protect these sites, but they have been ineffective against drones .... The Saudi drone attack took out a known weak spot in the oil supply chain with a cheap, low-tech weapon that billions’ worth of air defenses are powerless to stop (Business Insider).

13 comments:

Bob Huntley said...

Technology.

My grandfather was on loan to the Royal Navy during WW II. He said when the Germans came out with sound seeking torpedoes, an impressive development at that time, the navy orderd them to drag a bag(s) full of cutlery behind their ships until something better could be developed.

Anonymous said...

I'm hearing cruise missiles were used for the precise attacks. Cruise missiles have been used since the 1960's.

Anonymous said...

HUNTLEY, Robert Harris “Bob” – ... Bob was a veteran of the Second World War, having served overseas and was a member of the West Nova Scotia Regiment.

Anonymous said...

The regiment mobilized as The West Nova Scotia Regiment, CASF for active service on 1 September 1939. The unit then embarked for Great Britain on 21 December 1939. It was redesignated as the 1st Battalion, The West Nova Scotia Regiment, CASF on 7 November 1940. It landed in Sicily on 10 July 1943, and in Italy on 3 September 1943, as part of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Infantry Division. On 19 March 1945, the battalion moved with the I Canadian Corps to North West Europe, where it fought until the end of the war. The overseas battalion was disbanded on 15 October 1945.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nova_Scotia_Regiment#The_Second_World_War

Bob Huntley said...

Interesting, but it was my mother's father. Loved sailing and had sailed around the world twice by the time he was 16.

Anonymous said...

Anything coming out your mouth would be

- anything but the truth,
- socialist propaganda,
- gibberish


Anonymous said...

We'll let the readers decide what you are Bob.

Bob Huntley said...


Anon

I appreciate your coment/commitment which of course means, if you really know what it is that you just said, that there will be no more garbage coming out of you otherwise you would be trying to influence readers as to what I am rather than doing what you just posted, i.e., "We'll let the readers decide what you are Bob."

Can I assume then that by saying "we" you are including all the persona you post under?

A simple yes or no would suffice and of course confirm your statement.

Anonymous said...

I remember some spies that had been identified. They were not rolled up. Tabs were kept on them to see to whom, the talked or associated.

Bob Huntley said...

Idjit

Anonymous said...

"Your mother's father and your father's father have the same surname."

So did siblings marry?

As crasters say "Incest is best!"


Bob Huntley said...

I can understand, why you perhaps cannot appreciate, that my grandfather, on my mother's side, did not necessarily, have the same surname name as mine. Your shortcoming is no doubt do to you being born into in a community where everyone has the same last name, your family tree being a stick. After all they probably all use the same communal hot tub responsible for the life force, that was wasted, on you.

Your useless and most inarticulate postings have therefore degenerated your designation from "idiot" to "idjit". As for misspelling, it is likely you are not aware of the built in spell check feature that highlights errors in spelling, but sadly not errors in grammar. You might consider "idjit" as a step down from "bastard".

In the online dictionary Microsoft installs, the Idjit definition says, "Idjit, used to indicate that the addressee in communications was the product of a communal hot tub, in a town where everyone has the same last name."

Anonymous said...

I got my pound of flesh from you.

Everyone knows you are a liar and a socialist.