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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   1462 thread views

Transnational Thursday for April 11, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Iran has just launched a massive strike against Israel. Dozens of Shahad drones are in flight, and some number of ballistic missiles have just launched. Yemen is also launching ballistic missiles. No word if Hezbollah has joined the attack yet.

Edit 1: number of Shahad drones estimated at 400-500. Iran's Defense Minister says "any country that opens its airspace or soil to Israel to attack Iran will receive our decisive response", according to Iran's state-affiliated IRNA News Agency

Iran's firing off Shaheds that cost $10,000 to $50,000 to produce. Israel's trying to shoot them down with F-15s and F-35s, plus their air defences. Can that possibly be economical? The flying cost of an F-35 is about $30,000 to $40,000 per hour. They can shoot down multiple Shaheds on each trip but I assume they're firing air to air missiles, it's a rather small target for cannon. Sidewinders apparently cost nearly $400,000. The Israelis make their own missiles and price is unclear but one imagines it's somewhat in that hundred thousand dollar zone.

At any rate it's somewhat academic, I imagine the US will be paying the bills.

"my tax dollars" vs "somehow also my tax dollars" strikes again

We’ll see how much damage it ends up causing. It all seems very telegraphed so far. They may well have told them exactly what they were going to do in advance.

That wouldn't surprise me. Neither side wants to escalate too far but the Iranian leadership has to be seen to do something and also wants to make a point that they could do the same anytime without warning if they really wanted to.

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