Commentary: Why the US military is stuck using US$1 million missiles against Iran’s US$20,000 drones
The US military doesn’t have a technology problem – it has a bureaucracy problem, says a former US Air Force officer.Iran has built a simple drone, the Shahed, with a motorcycle-type engine, loaded it with explosives and successfully targeted its neighbours’ cities and power plants....
The drones cost between US$20,000 and US$50,000 to build. In response, the US military sometimes fires missiles worth more than US$1 million to shoot one down.
As a former US Air Force officer and now national security scholar, I believe that math is a problem: The US military for now has a US$1 million answer to a US$20,000 question. This math tells you almost everything you need to know about one of America’s biggest national security headaches. Aaron Brynildson CNA.
This American national security scholar sees an American problem and explained it away with his own interpretation and understanding of the problem. The Americans cannot solve the problem because of bureaucracy, procedures and lengthy processes. These, he believes, are the real problems to resolving the math problem from an American scholar using the American way of thinking, everything so legalistic and systematic.
The big question, are slow processing the real problem, what is the real problem? For centuries, the American defence budget has been held at ransom by the Military Industrial Complex. It is a cash cow to fleece the Treasury and taxpayers' money to line the pockets of the weapons manufacturers and the generals. The MIC came out with a formula, it must be expensive to be good. And they keep on telling Washington and the Pentagon about building more and more expensive weapons and weapon systems to be the very best that the whole world cannot match, just like the trillions of dollars demanded by the AI craze. The more expensive the weapons are, the better they are. Just follow up with all the hypes and fictitious performance statistics to fool and confuse the daft senators and congressmen and women that they are paying for the best. And they needed all the best weapons systems to fight and subdue goat herdsmen in Afghanistan. No one wants to know the math on the cost effectiveness. And of course, the stars in Pentagon will be fully behind the MIC to demand for more expensive weapons systems. They all have vested interests to have the best and most expensive weapons. No need to explain why.
And more wars are needed to keep the MIC fat. More expensive weapons must be used and dropped even on speedboats in the Caribbeans. Get the picture? The whole defence industry and the American armed forces is a scam. It is a money making machine. War is not about defence but about business, making money. No country is a threat to America. No country can threaten America. It is the American terrorists that are fabricating threats to start wars, to attack small little countries, to expend their expensive weapons that need to be replaced by more orders for the MIC.
The stars in the Pentagon cannot be that stupid not to know that using a $10m missiles to shoot at hot air balloon is silly. You don't need to know math to understand this. But they did it, not with one missile but several missiles. Follow the money trail.
For decades, the American were strutting around the world threatening the world with 11 carrier strike groups when not a single country can threaten America. Why need 11 carrier strike groups with hundreds of aircraft that cost tens of millions each? And an aircraft carrier needs to be protected with escort ships, destroyers, submarines, logistic support ships, etc etc, when the enemy countries did not have a single aircraft carrier, warship or aircraft that can match the Americans.
It is all about money for the MIC and you know who. This is the real reason. Some may believe in the American lies, raising scarecrows as targets to be conveniently shot down and be very happy with it. America will not build cheap weapons. Period. It must be expensive then it can be called good, just like university education. You want good education, you must pay dearly. The best talents coming to Singapore came from third world unknown village universities, cheap and good.
This myth was 'pitcha' by Pakistan using cheap Chinese J10Cs and cheap Chinese PL15 missiles to bring down expensive Rafales that cost 4 or 5 times a J10C. Expensive is not necessarily good. Expensive is good for someone's pocket, for some people to get rich.
For a start, stop the incestuous relationship between Pentagon and the MIC to end the rot.
