THE PENTAGON: United States Military deploys advanced Patriot MissileDefence System in leading Muslim Country Saudi Arabia after the deadlyattacks on Kingdom largest Oil Refinery.
The Trump administration is shipping more air defense weapons to SaudiArabia in response to the devastating Sept. 14 drone and cruise missileattack on a major oil facility there.
But it’s not clear if the new hardware — a battery of Patriotlink missile launchers, 200 moretroops, and four 360-degree Sentinellink radars — will be the bestdefense against the next attack if it follows a similar pattern. Theproblem is that existing US systems are not designed to stop that kind oflow-flying, relatively inexpensive threat.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said the deployment“will augment the kingdom’s air and missile defense of critical militaryand civilian infrastructure.” The Pentagon has tried to enlist allies tosend more assets to the region, though no firm commitments have been madeyet.
“Other countries have called out Iranian misadventures in the region,”Hoffman noted, “and we look for them to contribute assets in aninternational effort to reinforce Saudi Arabia’s defense.”
The US will also put two more Patriot batteries along with a Terminal HighAltitude Area Defense system (THAAD) on standby for rapid deployment.
The existing Saudi radars are only able to “look” in one direction at atime, and they’re usually pointed south to defend against Houthi missileattacks from Yemen — leaving flight lines from Iran and Iraq mostlyexposed.
American and Saudi officials have yet to provide enough details to pinpointwhere the swarm came from, but the Sentinel radar, while fairlyshort-ranged, constantly rotates to watch for threats from all directions.It could also be mounted in an elevated position in order to “see”low-flying threats that would normally be hidden behind the horizon.