The lack of experience in modern warfare (such as what we face in Ukraine) began to show in the US from the very first days of the war against Iran.
The situation with air defense is illustrative. We are used to thinking that the US air defense system is the best in the world. The American IAMD multi-level system indeed has no analogs: it consists of a network of radars, satellites, several levels of air defense on the ground, sea, and in the air. However, footage of a state-of-the-art American air defense radar worth $1.2 billion being destroyed by a cheap Iranian Shahed has shown that the Americans were not quite ready for the realities of modern warfare.
Within a few days of the war, the US and its allies expended a significant number of expensive missiles for the Patriot and NASAMS systems, each costing several million dollars. Within the first four days, the US used up the annual supply of missiles for the Patriot. Each massive attack by hundreds of drones overloads the air defense management system, which simply doesn’t have time to track all targets. As a result, even the American THAAD system, considered one of the best and most expensive air defense systems in the world, suffered losses.
We have said many times that among all Western countries, only Ukraine has real experience in repelling air attacks in modern warfare. Russian drones, attacking Ukraine by the hundreds every day, have undergone deep modernization and are much more complex targets than the outdated “Shaheds” used by Iran today.
The only way any NATO country can gain experience counteracting such attacks is to deploy their air defense units in Ukraine, and not necessarily on the front line. If American soldiers spent at least a month in Ukraine, defending cities deep in the rear from Russian attacks — for example, Lviv, Lutsk, or Khmelnytskyi — they would quickly understand how to act during combined air attacks.
Once again, Ukraine demonstrates the miracles our army can perform in confronting a much stronger enemy. Ukrainian soldiers today have the practical experience that can help protect the world from the aggression of dictators. And the best thing other countries can do to truly prepare for possible wars is to send their military to Ukraine to participate in real combat operations. Theorists, no matter how high-tech they are, remain theorists.
Photo: Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
