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Fox News
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
US and Israel urgently need to replenish weapons stockpiles after 12-day war, defense analysts warn
A Jewish-American national security group is sounding an alarm about how America and Israel's enemies may exploit low missile stockpiles after the 12-day war with Iran. Defending Israel and the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar from Iranian counterstrikes cost the U.S. and Israel between $1.48 billion to $1.58 billion, according to an analysis by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), and burned through a large portion of missile interceptor stockpiles. Both the U.S. and Israel now face an "urgent need" to replace those stocks and sharply increase production rates. The U.S. had roughly 632 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors before June 13, the day Israel began its offensive in Iran. About 540 interceptors remain in its arsenal based on JINSA's calculations of interceptor deliveries and use, according to the report. IRAN SAYS IT CAN STRIKE THE US AND ISRAEL FOR TWO YEARS. DOES IT REALLY HAVE THAT POWER?In addition, the two Patriot missile interceptor systems responsible for defending Al Udeid, the U.S.'s largest base in the Middle East that's home to 10,000 soldiers, reportedly used roughly 30 Patriot interceptors against the 14 Iranian ballistic missiles targeting the site June 23, The interceptors cost about $3.7 million each, totaling $111 launched 574 medium-range ballistic missiles toward Israel and the U.S. airbase in Qatar after Tel Aviv and Washington conducted strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites between June 13 and June 24, when the conflict ended in Iran's counterstrike in Gen. Thomas Bergeson, former chief of U.S. Central Command, said the U.S. and its allies needed to do more to invest in nonkinetic interception mechanisms, or systems that can neutralize a threat without explosive force, which would be much cheaper in defending against future attacks. "There's any number of operational test and developmental testing going on with a cheaper bullet than a multibillion-dollar interceptor to shoot down a relatively inexpensive missile or UAS," he said. "Any electro-magnetic interference capability, a microwave laser EMP, whatever that can screw up, the guidance system or the proportion of that particular system is something that could be cheaper."You can have literally hundreds if not thousands of rounds in one interceptor at very low cost."While the cost for the U.S. and Israel was high, the cost for Iran was greater — between $1.1 billion and $6.6 billion. Air defenses saved Israel about $13.5 billion in property used up between a third and a half of its ballistic missile arsenal during the 12-day conflict, suggesting Iranian assertions it could have continued striking Israel for years if it wanted were overblown. Replacing its missile stockpiles will be even more costly given that Israel struck many of its launchers and production sites. IRAN-LINKED HACKERS THREATEN TO RELEASE NEW TROVE OF EMAILS STOLEN FROM TRUMP'S INNER CIRCLE AFTER STRIKESBut the U.S. used up 14% of its global stockpile of prized THAAD missile interceptors. America's THAAD system accounted for nearly half of all interceptions due to "insufficient" capacity of Israel's Arrow interception system. It would take three to eight years to replenish the THAAD interceptors used in the 12-day war at current production rates. Patriot interceptor production is more robust than THAAD, according to the report, but the U.S. is providing a number of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine. So, it's unclear how many remain in the stockpile. If the U.S. and Israel fail to urgently replenish their interceptor inventories — especially THAAD and Patriot systems — they risk entering the next crisis with dangerously thin defenses, according to the report. Adversaries may take note of the extended gap between munitions use and stockpile replenishment, which leaves U.S. bases across the world open to vulnerabilities. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"Iran's large-scale missile campaign may have revealed vulnerabilities in Israeli and U.S. air defense systems, providing lessons that Iran or other U.S. adversaries could exploit in the future," the report Pentagon could not immediately be reached for comment on its plan to replenish missile interceptor stocks.
Mint
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Through trial and error, Iran found gaps in Israel's storied air defenses
Israel's recent war with Iran served as a cautionary tale for countries with sophisticated missile defenses and those that seek to have them. Over 12 days, Iran pierced Israel's defenses with increasing success, showing that even the world's most advanced systems can be penetrated. While most of Iran's missiles and drones were knocked down, Tehran changed tactics and found gaps in Israel's armor through trial and error. Tehran began to launch more advanced and longer-range missiles from a wider range of locations deep inside Iran, according to missile-defense experts who analyzed open-source data and public images of missile fragments. The regime also altered the timing and pattern of attacks and increased the geographic spread of targets, the analysts found. As the war went on, Iran fired fewer missiles, but its success rate rose, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from think tanks based in Israel and Washington, D.C. In the first half of the conflict, 8% of Iran's missiles slipped through Israel's defenses. By the second half of the war, 16% got past Israel's interceptors, according to data from the Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America, or Jinsa. The success rate doesn't take into account missiles that failed to launch or were intercepted before reaching Israeli airspace, said Mora Deitch, head of the Data Analytics Center at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. Nor does it distinguish between missiles that were allowed to strike open areas in Israel and those that Israeli interceptors missed, said Deitch, whose think tank provided data on Iranian strikes and Israeli defense capabilities. Iran's most successful set of attacks came on June 22, two days before the end of the war, when 10 out of 27 missiles hit Israel, according to the Jinsa data. The data suggest that Iran successfully adapted 'how, when and what" it was firing, said Ari Cicurel, associate director of foreign policy at Jinsa. The Israeli military declined to comment on Jinsa's figures beyond saying it doesn't share specifics on interception rates. Israel's aerial defense—including the famed Iron Dome that intercepts short-range rockets from Gaza and Lebanon—is among the best in the world and was developed in partnership with the U.S. 'Any missile system, even a sophisticated one like Israel's, will leak eventually," said Raphael Cohen, a senior political scientist at Rand, created as a Pentagon think tank. 'The key for any air-defense system is less that you build a perfect system with any one layer and more the cumulative effect." An analysis of Israel's public statements indicates that its interception rate declined over the course of the war. During the conflict, the Israeli military said it was intercepting 90% to 95% of Iran's missiles. After the cease-fire on June 24, the military said it had intercepted 86% overall. In January, President Trump signed an executive order to develop the 'Iron Dome for America," a $175 billion missile-defense system originally named after Israel's array and now called Golden Dome, to protect the U.S. from potential missile attacks. America's size would make its skies much harder to defend than Israel's. Ukraine offers a better example of defending a large territory over a yearslong war, but its air defenses are a patchwork of American, European and homegrown technologies. Israel's advanced integrated system is more akin to what the U.S. seeks to develop, Cohen of Rand said. Israel's own success at attacking Iranian missile launchers prevented Iran from deploying its older, less accurate and shorter-range missiles. But it also meant that Tehran reached for its more advanced and longer-range missiles sooner in the conflict. Fragments of Iran's hypersonic Fattah-1 missile fell in at least two Israeli towns, according to footage of debris analyzed by missile experts. The Fattah-1 descends at a sharp angle from outside the Earth's atmosphere at over 10 times the speed of sound and features a warhead that detaches in flight and can dodge interceptors. Only Israel's most advanced systems—the Arrow 3 and David's Sling—can change course midflight to track it. Iran also pivoted from firing large overnight barrages to launching smaller waves during daylight hours and from a wider variety of locations. Tehran further tested Israel's interceptors by changing up its firing patterns, targeting far-apart cities and varying the intervals between attacks. 'They tried to separate the Israeli defense system," said Yehoshua Kalisky, a missile-defense expert at INSS. As the conflict wore on, a declining number of interceptors and their high cost would also have compelled Israel to conserve resources and only target missiles from Iran that posed the greatest threat, missile experts said. Israeli and Iranian officials have independently called for reviews of their aerial capabilities. 'We are both on a learning curve," said Kalisky, 'they're trying to improve their attacks, and we, our defense." Write to Benoit Faucon at
Mint
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Israeli air dominance means it is shooting down Iranian missiles before they launch
Iran is firing fewer missiles at Israel each day after Israel secured dominance over Iranian skies, enabling it to destroy launchers and take out missiles before they even leave the ground. Israel said on Sunday that it had created an air corridor to Tehran. By Monday, it said its air force had complete control over the skies of Tehran. Since then it has struck dozens of missile launchers amounting to more than a third of Iran's total, the military said, sometimes just as they are preparing to launch an attack. On Wednesday, the military said it had struck overnight a loaded 'Emad" missile launcher as it was about to be fired toward Israel. The air force has also been striking daily Iran's supply of missiles, detection radars and missile batteries, in the wake of Israel's Thursday night attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and senior leadership. This aerial control is proving crucial. Iran fired some 200 missiles in four barrages in its first round of attacks against Israel on Friday and Saturday. But between Tuesday and Wednesday, Iran fired 60 missiles at Israel over eight different waves of strikes, at times sending fewer than a dozen at a time, according to estimates by Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America. Fewer missiles at a time makes it easier for Israeli air-defense systems to intercept them, according to Israeli officials and air-defense experts. There have been no casualties from missile attacks in Israel since Tuesday, according to Israeli paramedics. Twenty-four Israelis have been killed as a result of Iranian strikes since the current confrontation began. Iran's plan, according to statements by senior Iranian military officials before the war, was to overwhelm Israeli air defenses by firing around 400 missiles a day against Israel, said Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow with the Washington Institute. 'Those plans were all shattered when Israel just defeated Iran's integrated air-defense systems, and within a short period," Nadimi said. Israel's aircraft and other security forces have destroyed 120 missile launchers, squeezing Iran's capability to strike Israel, according to Israeli officials. Israel's control over Iranian skies means it is also been regularly striking Iran's missile storage and production capabilities. Iran started the current conflict with around 2,000 ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel, and has fired around 400 of those so far, according to Israeli military estimates. Experts say Iran has a lot more missiles and many more other kinds of missiles in its arsenal, but it isn't clear how many of those are able to hit faraway targets like Israel. Smoke rising in Herzliya, Israel, after an Iranian missile attack. Some analysts are also speculating that Iran may be withholding large salvos ahead of a possible expansion of the war. President Trump issued threats against Iran and its leadership on Tuesday, suggesting the U.S. could join the war. Israel's aerial dominance is providing the country with some confidence that the impact of the conflict could be contained, at least in Israel. On Wednesday, Israel's airport authorities allowed the first flight to land at Ben Gurion international airport since the start of the current conflict, indicating it feels it has some control over the airspace. Israel's home front command, also on Wednesday, said it would lift some of the restrictions on public gatherings and allow businesses with or near bomb shelters to reopen. Israel has bomb shelters built all around the country and dotting its cities, making many businesses in range of protection. Israel's ability to spot, foil and intercept launches is likely forcing the Iranians to be more careful about moving missile launchers around, because moving makes them more vulnerable to attack, said Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser and fellow at JINSA. Amidror said Israel has also succeeded in disrupting Iranian command-and-control by targeting its senior and midlevel commands, further reducing their ability to coordinate large missile attacks. 'Take all the elements together and they still have a huge potential and may use it in the future, but for the time being Israel has degraded their ability to launch big salvos at many times during the day," Amidror said. Fabian Hinz, research fellow for missile technologies and UAVs at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that Iran is now having to fire missiles at Israel from farther away, which means they are relying mainly on their liquid propellant weapons that have sufficient 1,000-mile range to hit Israel. These liquid propellant ballistic missiles have a number of disadvantages compared with solid propellant missiles, according to Hinz, which is why Iran has been focusing its work on developing longer-range solid propellant missiles in recent years. The biggest disadvantage is they take a considerable amount of time—perhaps a couple of hours—to fuel up, which means Iran can't fire a quick barrage of missiles, as they can with solid propellant missiles. That leaves them more exposed to Israeli strikes. They also require more personnel and trucks to prepare them, which again makes them more visible to Israeli attacks. The fuel liquid propellant missiles use includes extremely hazardous and toxic chemicals, requiring personnel to use protective gear and creating greater safety risks. And the fuel is less well protected within the missile than with solid propellant missiles. 'If you have the Israeli air force overhead hunting for launchers, you really want a system that allows you to launch with minimal preparation and get away as quickly as possible," Hinz said. Nadimi said he expects Iran to pivot to using its most advanced missiles to hit strategic targets like defense industries, military facilities or high-value economic targets. He noted that Iran on Tuesday night said it fired Fattah 1 missiles, which fly at hypersonic speed and have a warhead that can maneuver as it closes in on its target, making it harder for air defenses to intercept. Israeli defense companies are working on systems to intercept hypersonic missiles but they aren't in use yet, a vulnerability in Israel's defenses, he said. Judging the success of Iran's most advanced missiles will be difficult due to strict censorship in Israel against the publication of successful strikes against security-related or other sensitive targets, Nadimi said. If Israel begins to run out of interceptors, Iran could pivot back to its original strategy of trying to overwhelm Israeli air defenses, he added. Write to Dov Lieber at
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Climate of hate' for Jews has been ‘tolerated': Makovsky
(NewsNation) — The president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America has condemned what he believes is a 'climate of hate' against Jews existing in the United States. Michael Makovsky joined 'NewsNation Now' to discuss the killing of two Israeli Embassy workers in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. 'My gut reaction … there's a climate of hate, and that's been tolerated for far too long in this country,' Makovsky said. Chicago Jewish leaders condemn Israeli Embassy staffers shooting Makovsky criticized the Democratic Party and sections of the media for not denouncing a climate of antisemitism strongly enough. 'Obviously, the campuses have not just been tolerating, but the professors and the administrators seem to really [be] part of it,' he said. 'We all know that if these demonstrators, over the last year and a half, were wearing white hoods and railing against various minorities of color, there would have been a different reaction.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
15-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump makes historic UAE visit as first US president in nearly 30 years
President Donald Trump on Thursday will soon land in the United Arab Emirates for his final stop in the Middle East this week in a visit that marked the first time a U.S. president has traveled to the nation in nearly 30 years, following President George W. Bush's trip in 2008. Trump, who has secured major business deals first in Saudi Arabia and then Qatar, is expected to announce more agreements with what has long been one of the U.S.' chief trading partners in the region — though given recently announced trillion-dollar deals, it is unclear what more the Emiratis will agree to. In March, the UAE pledged a $1.4 trillion investment in the U.S. economy over the next decade through AI infrastructure, semiconductor, energy and American manufacturing initiatives, including a plan to nearly double U.S. aluminum production by investing in a new smelter for the first time in 35 years. On the eve of the president's visit to the Middle Eastern nation, the State Department also announced a $1.4 billion sale of CH-47 F Chinook helicopters and F-16 fighter jet parts to Abu Dhabi. However, lawmakers on Wednesday suggested they may block this sale amid concerns over direct personal business ties, as Trump's crypto venture has also received a $2 billion investment by a UAE-backed investment firm. "If I was a betting person, I'd bet that the Emiratis almost certainly kept some things in reserve for President Trump's actual visit that can be announced when he's on the ground in Abu Dhabi," John Hannah, former national security advisor to Dick Cheney and current Randi & Charles Wax senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), told Fox News Digital. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see some new items unveiled or some additional details put out on some of the earlier announcements." "The UAE has clearly staked its future on being the Middle East leader in a wide range of 21st-century technologies, from AI to chips to space," he added. "And of course, the shopping list for high-end weapons is almost limitless and always a possible deliverable for a trip like this." Increased scrutiny arose around Trump's Middle East tour as engagement with all three nations holds personal value to him, given the Trump Organization's luxury resorts, hotels, golf courses, real estate projects and crypto investment schemes in the region. But all three nations also hold significant value to Washington, as they have become key players in some of the toughest geopolitical issues facing the U.S. and its allies. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been integral in facilitating U.S. negotiations when it comes to ending Russia's war in Ukraine and hostage negotiations in the Gaza Strip. While neither of these issues appeared to be top points of discussion in Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia or Qatar, he may hit on geopolitical ties more heavily when it comes to the UAE, particularly given that Abu Dhabi is one of the few Middle Eastern nations that holds normalized diplomatic ties with Israel. The UAE has ardently opposed Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, has called for a two-state solution, and has rejected Trump's "riviera plans," instead favoring an Egypt-reconstruction alternative. But Abu Dhabi has also maintained relations with the U.S.' biggest adversaries, including China, Russia and Iran, which could be a topic of conversation during Trump's one-day visit. "As everywhere on this trip, the headlines will likely be dominated by the dollar signs and deal-making," Hannah said. "But I'm personally most interested in the geopolitical angle of trying to reset the U.S.-Emirati strategic partnership, especially in the context of America's great power competition with China and to a lesser extent Russia, and regionally with Iran." Hannah explained that Trump's visit to the UAE exemplifies a recommitment by the U.S. economically and militarily to support Abu Dhabi's "stability, security, and success in a dangerous neighborhood" and could "pay real dividends going forward." "The UAE's top leadership has come to believe that putting most of its eggs into the American basket was an increasingly risky bet as one president after another decided that the Middle East was a lost cause — nothing but 'blood and sand' as President Trump famously said in his first term — and the country needed to pivot its focus toward Asia," he continued. "With a country as influential and resource-rich as the UAE, correcting that unhelpful perception and putting the strategic relationship back on a much more positive dynamic is an important goal."
