Despite Trump’s victory claims, top generals admit Iranian drone swarms could breach US defenses: Report

Senior US military officials have reportedly warned lawmakers that American forces may not be able to intercept and shoot down every Iranian drone launched in retaliation against US military installations and assets in the region. This comes as US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (March 4) claimed that allies the United States and Israel were in a strong position in their war with Iran. Pledging that the two nations will “continue forward” against the Islamic Republic, he told technology executives at the White House that Iranian “leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody who seems to want to be a leader ends up dead.” In another statement, he said that “We’re doing very well on the war front, to put it mildly,” adding that “somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15.”

US can't shoot down Iranian missiles?

During a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday, top military officials led by the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Dan Caine, told lawmakers that Iran has been deploying large numbers of one-way attack drones in recent days. As per The Guardian, they warned that while US defences can destroy most of them, stopping every single drone may not be possible.

Citing two people familiar with the discussion, the publication reported that lawmakers were told that Iran has been launching thousands of drones at US military installations and assets. While most are being intercepted, they said, the scale of the attacks makes total protection difficult.

US to focus on destroying Iranian launch sites

Given the challenge, US forces are shifting attention to the source of the attacks - launch sites for the drones and conventional missiles, military officials revealed during the classified briefing.

Iran has relied heavily on its low-cost Shahed drone in the retaliatory campaign. Unlike ballistic missiles, these drones fly low and relatively slowly. This makes them harder to detect and intercept using traditional air defence systems.

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