Keep pulling the thread on Becca Wasser.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) has requested the deployment of the US Army's Dark Eagle long-range hypersonic missile to its area of operations.
The primary naval threat from Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is not its conventional navy, but rather the fast boats and anti-ship cruise missiles operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The United States is deploying ground forces, including the 82nd Airborne Division, to the Middle East.
The US strategic 'pivot to Asia,' which was formally part of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, has been effectively abandoned in subsequent policy and practice.
The US is in a period of 'profound strategic drift' where military operations, such as those against Iran, in Nigeria, or in Venezuela, do not aggregate into a coherent national strategy.
A recent wargame simulating the Strait of Hormuz conflict concluded there is no military solution, as the scenario devolved into a protracted drone war with the strait remaining closed most of the time.
The United States needs to develop alternative, lower-cost strategies for deterring China that do not rely on winning a conventional fires competition against the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The US is expending JASSM missiles at a rate of approximately 400 per month, while Lockheed Martin's baseline production is only 40 per year.
GPS-guided 155mm artillery shells, such as the Excalibur round, are now extraordinarily vulnerable to GPS jamming and lack redundant navigation systems.
Official figures stating Iran's defense spending is 2% of GDP are misleading because they do not account for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which operates as a parallel entity with its own revenue streams from commercial enterprises.
The United States is no longer perceived as a reliable ally or negotiating partner by either its adversaries or its allies.
The deployment of next-generation technologies like the Dark Eagle missile from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East would negatively impact US readiness and preparedness for a future conflict with China.