U.S. Capabilities Are Showing Signs of Rot

"At least six U.S. soldiers died, and others were wounded, in an Iranian strike Sunday on a command facility in Kuwait. CNN reported that the Americans received no warning of the incoming drone. According to CBS News, the fortifications around the facility protected it from car bombs but not from a direct overhead strike."

"When a complex system starts to decay, the first signs are usually subtle. In the third century, after the Roman empire had reached its geographic maximum, literacy began to decline across Roman society. Education levels fell not only among soldiers, but among officers, aristocrats, and even emperors. The Roman army still looked formidable for years afterward."

"We basically had no drone defeat capability. Yet the failure to beef up relevant defensive measures in a facility located so close to Iran is a curious lapse in planning."

Iranian drones successfully breached American air defenses at a command facility in Kuwait following a U.S. air campaign, resulting in six soldier deaths and additional casualties. The facility lacked adequate drone defense systems despite fortifications against conventional threats. Military officials acknowledged having no effective drone defeat capability. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth minimized the incident, characterizing it as an unavoidable occurrence. The failure to implement appropriate defensive measures near Iranian territory represents a significant planning oversight. This vulnerability reflects a broader pattern of military capability decay, comparable to historical precedents where advanced militaries gradually lose relative advantage despite maintaining superior overall strength.

Read at The Atlantic