Negligence or Systemic Failure: Why US Bases Have Become Easy Targets

Modern warfare, marked by the overwhelming dominance of drones in the skies, is forcing militaries around the world to search for effective ways to protect critical facilities. This challenge extends far beyond Russia's confrontation with the missile-and-drone capabilities of NATO and Ukraine. The United States has also found itself in a difficult position in the Middle East. The experience offers a valuable lesson and should serve, at the very least, as food for thought-and perhaps even as a guide for future action. The Vulnerability of America's Air Bases For all the admiration surrounding the U.S. military in much of the Western public sphere, the United States has, somewhat surprisingly, proven remarkably vulnerable to attacks by inexpensive Iranian drones. The most striking example of the collapse of America's carefully cultivated image of military superiority was the incident at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. In a short period, the United States lost an E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and surveillance aircraft, several aerial refueling tankers, and additional equipment of lesser importance. The U.S. continues to lose aircraft and helicopters at its regional bases, but it was the Saudi incident that sparked an intense debate among American military experts. Many in the United States are asking how an aircraft worth half a billion dollars could have been left sitting in plain sight on an airfield, simply waiting for its fate. Why did no one take into account that the base lies less than 1,500 kilometers from Iran-a distance that is hardly significant in modern warfare, especially during an active military operation?