fire4effect
-
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by fire4effect
-
-
Edited by fire4effect
I think it should apply to all service members but that's just me.
-
Edited by fire4effect
I'm certainly glad I can count on WAPO to assist our adversaries with BDA.
Actual article is behind a paywall.
Maybe they did redact some information but still.
"Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East since the war began, hitting hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment, according to a Washington Post analysis of satellite imagery. The amount of destruction is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported.
The threat of air attacks rendered some of the U.S. bases in the region too dangerous to staff at normal levels, and commanders moved most of the personnel from these sites out of the range of Iranian fire at the start of the war, officials have said.
The Washington Post (Image: Google Earth)
Since the start of the war on Feb. 28, seven service members have died in strikes on U.S. facilities in the region — six in Kuwait and one in Saudi Arabia — and more than 400 troops have suffered injuries as of late April, the US. military said. While most of the wounded returned to duty within days, at least 12 suffered injuries that military officials classified as serious, according to U.S. officials who, among others, spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Satellite imagery of the Middle East is unusually difficult to acquire at present. Two of the largest commercial providers, Vantor and Planet, have complied with requests from the U.S. government — their biggest customer — to limit, delay or indefinitely withhold the publication of imagery of the region while the war is ongoing, making it difficult or impossible to assess Iran’s counterstrikes. Those restrictions began less than two weeks into the war.
Iranian state-affiliated news agencies, however, have from the start regularly published high-resolution satellite imagery on their social media accounts that claimed to document damage to U.S. sites.
For this examination — one of the first comprehensive public accounts of the damage to U.S. facilities in the region — The Post reviewed more than 100 high-resolution Iranian-released satellite images. The Post verified the authenticity of 109 of those images by comparing them with lower-resolution imagery from the European Union’s satellite system, Copernicus, as well as high-resolution images from Planet where available. The Post excluded 19 Iranian images from the damage analysis because comparisons with the Copernicus imagery were inconclusive. No Iranian imagery was found to have been manipulated.
Iranian images
Images used to verify
Feb. 22
March 8
Verified damage
Nine fuel bladders at Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait were damaged. Iran state-affiliated media released images with annotations, and The Post used imagery from Planet to confirm the damage.
In a separate search of Planet imagery, Post reporters found 10 damaged or destroyed structures that were not documented in the imagery released by Iran. In all, The Post found 217 structures and 11 pieces of equipment that were damaged or destroyed at 15 U.S. military sites in the region.
Experts who reviewed The Post’s analysis said the damage at the sites suggested that the U.S. military had underestimated Iran’s targeting abilities, not adapted sufficiently to modern drone warfare and left some bases under-protected.
“The Iranian attacks were precise. There are no random craters indicating misses,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine Corps colonel, who reviewed the Iranian images at The Post’s request. The Post previously revealed how Russia provided Iran with intelligence to target U.S. forces.
Some of the damage may have occurred after U.S. troops already left the bases, making protection of the structures less vital. Cancian and other experts said they do not believe the attacks have significantly limited the U.S. military’s ability to conduct its bombing campaign in Iran.
U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for the Middle East, declined to address a detailed summary of findings from The Post. A military spokesperson disputed the characterization of base damage by experts as extensive or evidence of failures, saying assessments of destruction are complex and can be misleading in some cases, but declined to provide specifics. Military leaders will be able to provide fuller context for the Iranian attacks after the conflict ends, the spokesperson said.
The damage
In the first weeks of the war, several news outlets published reviews of damage, including the New York Times, which found strikes at 14 U.S. military sites or air defense installations. In late April, NBC News reported that an Iranian jet bombed a U.S. base in Kuwait, the first time in years that an enemy fighter plane has hit a U.S. base, and cited research it said showed 100 targets had been struck by Iran across 11 bases. CNN reported last week that 16 U.S. installations had been damaged.
But the review by The Post — based on images dating from the war’s start through April 14 — reveals that scores of additional targets were struck at the sites, which are predominantly used by the U.S. military but shared with the host nations’ military forces and allies.
The images show that airstrikes damaged or destroyed what appear to be numerous barracks, hangars or warehouses at more than half of the U.S. bases that The Post reviewed.
Left to right from top: Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Isa Air Base, Riffa Air Base, Erbil International Airport, Harir Air Base, Ali al-Salem Air Base, Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, Shuaiba Port, al-Udeid Air Base, Prince Sultan Air Base, al-Dhafra Air Base. (Iran state-affiliated media)
“The Iranians have deliberately targeted accommodation buildings across multiple sites with the intent to inflict mass casualties,” said William Goodhind, an investigator with the open-access research project Contested Ground who reviewed the imagery. “It is not just equipment, fuel storage and air base infrastructure under fire, but also soft targets, such as gyms, food halls and accommodation.”
The Post also found that the attacks hit a satellite communications site at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Patriot missile defense equipment at Riffa and Isa air bases in Bahrain and Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, a satellite dish at the Naval Support Activity Bahrain — which serves as the headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet — a power plant at Camp Buehring in Kuwait and five fuel storage bladder sites across three bases.
The Iranian imagery also documented previously reported damage or destruction of radomes at Camp Arifjan and Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and at the 5th Fleet headquarters; Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense radars and equipment at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan and two sites in the United Arab Emirates; a second satellite communications site at al-Udeid Air Base, and an E-3 Sentry command and control aircraft and a refueling tanker at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
More than half of the damage reviewed by The Post occurred at the 5th Fleet headquarters, and the three bases in Kuwait — Ali al-Salem Air Base, Camp Arifjan and Camp Buehring. Camp Arifjan is the U.S. Army’s regional headquarters.
Damaged structures
Damage to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait visible on March 4. (Planet)
Some Persian Gulf nations have refused to allow the U.S. military to conduct offensive operations out of their bases. A U.S. official said bases in Bahrain and Kuwait were two of the hardest hit, possibly because they permitted attacks from their territory, including the use of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that can fire missiles at ranges exceeding 310 miles.
The Post’s review represents only a partial count of the damage based on available satellite imagery.
Some of the damage could have been the result of U.S. choices or deception, Cancian said. To help preserve valuable interceptors, U.S. forces can choose to allow an incoming missile to strike if it seems likely to hit an unimportant target, he said, and it’s also possible commanders sought to deceive Iranian forces by making emptied base locations appear occupied.
A changed battlefield
Experts said the vulnerability of the military sites to Iran’s attacks was likely the consequence of numerous factors.
Chief among them, experts said, is that Iranian forces have been more resilient than the Trump administration may have anticipated. Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, a think tank, said plans to destroy Iran’s missile and drone forces fast enough to prevent them from inflicting serious damage underestimated “the depth of Iran’s pre-positioned targeting intelligence on fixed U.S. infrastructure.”
Grieco said the strategy also failed to account for the degree to which U.S. and Israeli air defenses had been used up during the 12-day conflict in June between Iran, Israel and the United States.
According to an estimate from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the military used at least 190 THAAD interceptors and 1,060 Patriot interceptors between Feb. 28 and April 8, representing 53 percent and 43 percent of their prewar inventories, respectively.
Justin Bronk, senior research fellow for airpower and technology at the Royal United Services Institute based in London, said U.S. and allied air defenses had done an impressive job intercepting attacks, but “at an enormous cost in terms of surface-to-air missile interceptors and air-to-air missiles.”
In addition, experts said the U.S. military had not adequately adapted to the use of one-way attack drones, something they said planners should have learned from observing the war in Ukraine.
“While [drones] have small payloads — some of these did not do that much damage — they are more difficult to intercept and much more accurate, making them a much bigger threat to U.S. forces,” said Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses.
They also pointed to structural challenges, including a shortfall of fortified shelters that could protect troops and equipment at key positions and likely targets.
For example, the tactical operation center in Kuwait, where six U.S. service members were killed by an Iranian drone attack in early March, offered little overhead protection or concealment, one of several issues being examined by Democratic lawmakers probing the fatalities.
Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, in 2021. The rooftop of the building that was struck in an Iranian drone attack in March appears to be made of thin metal. (U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. David Simon)
In one case, it appeared that the E-3 Sentry command and control aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia was destroyed after being repeatedly parked in the same location on an unprotected taxiway, satellite imagery shows.
U.S. Central Command declined to address questions on experts’ analysis of the damage.
The strikes on U.S. bases in the region have left military planners considering new trade-offs, said Maximilian Bremer, a nonresident fellow at the Stimson Center and a retired Air Force officer: Pull troops back to safer locations and limit their ability to fight or maintain the bases as they were and accept the potential of future casualties.
A U.S. official said that damage at the Naval Support Activity is “extensive” and that the headquarters there relocated to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, the home of U.S. Central Command. It is unlikely that troops, contractors or civilian employees will return to the base “anytime soon,” the official said.
Two other officials said U.S. forces may never return to regional bases in large numbers, though no final decision has been made.
“We have moved from an age of stealth to one where the entire battlespace is translucent and increasingly transparent,” said Bremer. “It feels like we should be on offense, but we are definitely playing defense around these bases.”
Methodology
To report this story, Washington Post reporters geolocated 128 satellite images published by Iranian state-affiliated news media purporting to show damage caused by Iranian strikes to confirm that they depicted the locations claimed in the captions. We then verified the damage by comparing the imagery with medium-resolution imagery from the Sentinel-2 satellite, part of the E.U. satellite system Copernicus, examining various spectral bands to see damage as clearly as possible, and to high-resolution optical imagery from Planet. In response to a request from the U.S. government, Planet has instituted a policy of withholding imagery captured after March 8 from its online platform, meaning high-resolution imagery was generally not available for comparisons after that date.
In cases where we lacked high-resolution imagery, we tallied only a single structure hit, even if the Iranian imagery appeared to show multiple structures hit. The analysis excluded purported Iranian strikes on nonmilitary targets, such as oil refineries, and on military sites that are not operated by U.S. forces, such as radar installations owned and operated by U.S. allies.
Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, examined the images gathered by The Post and verified our analysis, as did Goodhind of Contested Ground, which conducts satellite imagery analysis on war and armed conflict.
-
11 hours ago, Lord Ratner said: Have you bought it yet? It kills me he doesn't have a video with a drum mag
I wish. Wife is reigning me in on firearms purchases for now. It may be a while. The really hard part will be justifying my ammo purchases with very many 50 rd drums. It's like buying an airplane. The initial cost isn't what gets you it's the long-term caring and feeding.😁
-
1
-
-
-
On 4/28/2026 at 9:46 PM, Lord Ratner said: Well before you do, I think it's important that you know that there is now an FRT for the Auto Ordinance Thompson... And yes, they do sell 100 round drum magazines.
Kahr Firearms Group
1927A-1 Deluxe Carbine SBR 10.5" Barrel
DrMy dealer says it comes in at just over $2000dr
A Semi-Thompson with an FRT is as close to Heaven as I'll get me thinks. All my auto fire has been military, and I've never used an FRT. To those who have is it controllable?
2 hours ago, M2 said: Sadly, that's been the case for quite some time! About 15 years ago, a bud who was a Canadian Air Force officer stationed here in Texas that always wanted a quality 1911 bought a Kimber based on its reputation. Like you, it had constant feed issues and when he sent it back for warranty repairs, he got the same story about modifications they alleged he made to the pistol. Now, this guy was as honest as the day was long, so they claimed the gun store that sold it to him (new) may have done the work. Well, I knew the owner of that store and can guarantee he wouldn't do such a thing unless a customer requested it. It appears that's the "out" Kimber uses when a shitting pistol makes it through their factory.
A lot of people give Springfield crap about some of their 1911s being made in Brazil, but I have several that span their line and not a single one has ever given me an issue. Yes, JMB's most famous handgun has been known to be a bit picky, but after 115 years most of those issues have been fixed and even lower-end pistols are usually very reliable!I bought an SA 1911 Garrison Commander length last year in .45 (as the Lord intended). Great accuracy. Very tight fitting and no issues feeding. I sent the slide to Novak for upgraded sights, and it should be back tomorrow. 🤞Tomorrow will be exactly one week since I dropped it at FEDEX for shipment so turnaround time can't be beat for Novak fyi. I've come to the conclusion that sometimes luck plays into what you get from different manufactures at different times. Hard to stomach given what you pay for sure. BTW SA is a Series 70 (Titanium firing pin and heavier spring) vs Colt's Series 80. No idea on Kimber.
-
1
-
-
Iranian leadership has said they consider the blockade a violation of the ceasefire and won't negotiate unless it's lifted. I say fine keep it in place. Sounds like it's got them squealin from the feelin and relatively low risk to our personnel.
-
2
-
-
Edited by fire4effect
IEA proposes Basra–Ceyhan pipeline to bypass Hormuz
IMHO this mindset is the long-term solution. More than one pipeline over multiple paths through different countries so we get away from the single point of failure. Definitely expensive and will take years but some things are considered not worth the cost until the real pain hits to force the issue.
As long as modern military forces especially aviation (and civil aviation) need liquid dinosaurs to function this is the way.
-
On 4/17/2026 at 12:27 PM, disgruntledemployee said: A buddy of mine was outside the wire around Balad when a C-RAM went off. He described the rain of metal from the self destruct rounds. He wasn't happy. Hurt someone, probably. Kill someone, maybe a chance, and while small, is still a chance. But we probably need to start putting in anti drone systems at all bases, even CONUS.
Definitely a fair point. I remember a time when the CRAM would only tell you something was inbound and your only defense was getting to a shelter. Depending on what's inbound will largely determine if firing a given weapon system is worth the risk. Anything that's kinetic has a non-zero risk of hurting someone.
-
1 hour ago, ClearedHot said: Ummm NO! Are you out of your mind?
Use Nellis, Eglin, Andrews, Joint Base San Antonio as examples, what do you say to the locals when you start spraying 4100 rounds of 20MM into neighborhoods around the base in the name of self-defense? CRAM is great at FOBs but CONUS bases need a different and layered solution.
Phalanx CIWS C-RAM in action at night compilation
Don't the rounds self-destruct after a certain range now for this very reason?
-
saving private ryan gripes go up - Google Search
Yes, it's fiction but I think it encompasses the difference in viewpoints between then and now. One undertone is the question of why so much is being risked all for one man. Not saying one way or another just giving the example and certainly will spark debate. Not that it's difficult to do on BO. LOL
-
56 minutes ago, SHFP said: FYI....Great SAR Missions, for those not old enough to have been to SEA (Vietnam) or have read AF SAR History....
"Bat 21", LTC Gene Hambleton, April 1972. 11 Days, 1000+ Sorties, 8 Aircraft destroyed, 11 Airmen Killed and 2 POWS.
"Oyster 01", Captain Roger Locher, June 1972, 23 days, 150+ Aircraft, rescued only 40 miles from Hanoi, no Airmen Killed.
Family member flew the EB-66 out of Takhli Thailand in the 60s. His tail is sitting in the museum at Wright Patt. The stories he had were intense. He reminisced about those he knew that were not as lucky. He passed in 2022. I remember helping find a picture of the EB-66 that the funeral home made into artwork that went on his gravestone. 2 AMs and a DFC.
-
3
-
-
Awesome everyone extracted safely.
I sure hope a lot of lessons learned come out of this as I finished my taxes yesterday.
Assuming it was one SA-6 that's a lot of bang for the bad guy's Rial
2 × MC-130J Commando II aircraft
4 × MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopters
1 × F-15E Strike Eagle
1 × A-10 Warthog
2 × Reapers
-
2
-
-
17 minutes ago, frog said: WSJ confirmed a shoot down but didn’t list their source. Godspeed to the crew if true.
I guess we have an answer on the bounty. Reportedly around 60K.
Mail Online
Iran puts BOUNTY on American pilots after US fighter jet...
Iranian state media is incentivizing civilians to capture American pilots with a 'reward' after the regime claimed it shot down a US fighter jet. -
2 hours ago, ClearedHot said: Odds they completely FUBAR this.
Hurlburt was one of the first to allow service members (and retirees), to bring weapons on base. Current rules require you keep it in a secured location in your vehicle. If you've been through the front gate in the morning (I assume most bases are like this), the back up and proximity to Highway 98 created the perfect L shaped ambush set up.
Additionally, the memo addresses the thousands of uniformed personnel who work at the Pentagon, stating that the building's police force — the Pentagon Force Protection Agency — shall also apply a presumption of approval to all personal-carry applications.However, the memo stops short of allowing personal-carry within the walls of the building.
Rather, it states that the Pentagon Force Protection Agency must allow fair consideration for Pentagon personnel to "store a privately owned firearm in a vehicle on the Pentagon Reservation," pursuant to the Code of Federal Regulations.
For those who have successfully completed a sentence at the Pentagon (sadly, I did two), you know how difficult the Pentagon cops can be. Random bag searches and on more than one occasion I was hassled over the length of a pocket knife.
1993 CIA headquarters shooting - Wikipedia
I've mentioned this incident some time ago in the same context.
Bases/Concerts/Outside Airport Security the list is endless. Bad guys don't need to breach security just set where everyone is concentrated and most likely unarmed.
-
21 minutes ago, SocialD said: Hey Boss, I was just getting some hover and terrain masking practice in. I was just as surprised as WO2 Bagonuts to see some redneck standing there giving me a salute.
-
-
-
1 hour ago, Clayton Bigsby said: Is Iran the Japan tho? Or is it China?
Actually I was referring to Russia. Sorry I wasn't clear. I was making the point how a country might feel backed into a corner and feel like they have no choice but to go on the attack.
-
1
-
-
On 3/12/2026 at 9:49 AM, FourFans said: Sure, but I don't see behind any curtains anymore. In short, Russia is a dog we cornered that we have to be very careful with. We're probably doing this for the same reason the US Government limited Ukraine's starlink access as they tried to advance into Russian territory: Russia have nukes on functional ICBMs pointed at western nations.
Cutting off Venezuela and Iran in Russian oil calculus has made our sanctions that much more effective. I'd imagine we now have to carefully meter just how tightly we squeeze. Too hard and we get nukes airborne. It's a position of power that has to be carefully managed. Again, that's from my non read-in perspective. If I've learned one thing, it's that open source media is never privy to the behind the scenes negotiations that end up changing all the diplomatic calculus of how, precisely, the US is screwing over other countries. I'd guess this article is us seeing 10% of what's actually going on.THIS!
Unfortunately, the 10 percent is what the public sees and forms their opinion. People see gas prices and not much else. Taking out Iran's oil industry is really the only option at this point. Turn off their cash flow. Even if they hit their Gulf neighbors they'll watch as everyone else rebuilds and restart production while they sit on the sideline. They will run out of missiles and I'm sure most if not all of their manufacturing capability is a pile of smoking rubble at this point.
On a side note, harsh sanctions against Japan in the 40s pushed them to attack Pearl Harbor and we all know how that movie went.
They also had no hope of competing logistically with the US and after 1942 more and more of their assets were the start of artificial reefs with no way to replace them.
History repeats.
-
NRA-ILA
NRA-ILA | By George! Washington, D.C.’s Magazine Ban Inva...
Even as its formerly more liberty-loving neighbor, Virginia, goes down the tyrannical path of unconstitutional bans on firearms and magazines, residents of the nation’s capital last week gained a measOf course, the anti-gunners in DC are crapping themselves pushing hard for a stay on the precedence and an en-banc review. If this stands it could give a circuit split (however this works in DC) and then on to SCOTUS which is absolutely the last thing any libs want to see.
BREAKING NEWS! DC DECLARES EMERGENCY OVER HUGE FEDERAL COURT DECISION!
-
1 hour ago, FourFans said: Outstanding. The dude has no LEO experience, and I'll genuinely believe he'll do a great job. Character matters. AR has a long history of power hungry and otherwise low-professionalism cops. Let's hope he can clean house.
Especially in rural areas. It arguably has improved a little given social media/cameras are more prevalent unlike years past. Drug Task Force in Crittenden County made some cops quite a bit of money on the side over the years.
-
-
1 hour ago, B52gator said: 3 Strike Eagles down over Kuwait. Blue on Blue. All made it out. Some wild pics and vid out there of the crews.
Good to know all those seat inspections from a few years back seem to have been successful 🤔
Gun Talk
in Squadron Bar
That's why I think IF it passes it will include most if not all service members. Trying to actually define who gets the benefit that will pass legal muster is where the devil resides.