Effects....
“If I just walk back a couple of years, remember what you used to always hear, we’re shooting down a $50,000 drone with a $2 million missile,” he added. “These days, we’re spending a lot of time shooting down $100,000 drones with $10,000” weapons.
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“Costing approximately $35,000 per platform, LUCAS is a low-cost, scalable system that provides cutting-edge capabilities at a fraction of the cost of traditional long-range U.S. systems that can deliver similar effects,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, told
TWZ back in December. “The drone system has an extensive range and the ability to operate beyond line of sight, providing significant capability across CENTCOM’s vast operating area.”
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“The Iranian regime has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones,” Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video message.
“Iran’s theater ballistic missile shots fired are down 86% from the first day of fighting, with a 23% decrease just in the last 24 hours, and their one-way attack drone shots are down 73% from the opening days,” Caine told reporters, including from
The War Zone, at a Wednesday morning press conference. “This progress has allowed CENTCOM to establish localized air superiority across the southern flank of the Iranian coast and penetrate their defenses with overwhelming precision and firepower. We will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory and creating additional freedom of maneuver for U.S forces.”
“
More bombers and more fighters are arriving, just today,” Hegseth said. “And now with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound GPS and laser-guided
precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile.”
“We used
more exquisite standoff munitions at the start, but no longer need to,” the secretary proclaimed. “Our stockpiles of those, as well as Patriots [air defense interceptors], remain extremely strong. The enemy can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did. Not even close.”
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Another big factor in the reduction of Iranian missile launches could be how CENTCOM has concentrated striking command and control (C2) nodes, degrading Tehran’s ability to communicate and direct fires.
Iranian (C2) “structures in a bad way,” Caine posited. “Admiral Cooper has been continuing to pressure the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC C2 and other military elements, and will continue to do so.”
There is a war of attrition ongoing between Iran's stockpiles of standoff weapons and the U.S. and its allies' supplies of interceptors.
www.twz.com
Cloned from the Iranian Shahed-136, CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper praised the drones and their performance so far.
www.twz.com