Originally Posted by
rickair7777
The legit concern is that we expended a lot of the high-end stuff, which reduces deterrence in the Pacific until inventories are restored (which will take time due to limited production capacity, even if funded). But the flip side is that we demonstrated to PRC that our chit still works really well, that in and of itself has a deterrent effect. Also demonstrated that the current regime at least isn't afraid of engaging, additional deterrent effect.
Did we though? Yes, we killed something like 95% of incoming drones/missiles. But the Iranians were still able to do significant damage to some very high end systems. They would’ve killed a lot more of our people as well, but thank god we had the foresight to evacuate them (kudos to the leadership that made that decision). I feel like an alternate lesson the Chinese or Norks might take away is that if you saturate our defenses with enough targets, you’ll eventually get through, kill the radars & the patriot batteries & therefore threaten our regional forces & make your main operation that much easier. Caveat: those concerns are based on open source information. I’m sure there’s plenty we’re not seeing…..but still…