Garrison Davis

In other words, more drones were getting through or being launched, but I think getting through is the more supported conclusion.

And they're getting through because our defenses have gotten, or the defenses of our allies have gotten less effective.

The Jinsa report also notes that Israeli officials have stopped intercepting some cluster munition attacks in order to preserve ammunition, basically not shooting down the cluster munitions that don't look like they're going to hit anything or anyone because they don't have the ammunition to stop everything.

Now, I don't doubt that Iran is also feeling somewhat pinched in the munitions department.

It would be kind of weird if they weren't, both due to how many they fired and how many have been destroyed via airstrikes.

But the question isn't, are they suffering attrition too?

It's, are they better able to maintain the rate of attrition they're suffering than we are?

And while I can't answer that question in absolute terms, I think the answer is probably yes.

Iran's ballistic missiles generally cost a few hundred thousand dollars each.

THAAD interceptor missiles cost, as I said, around $13 million.

Shahid drones cost like $30,000 to make and are often stopped by munitions that cost millions to make and are hard to replace.

It's also worth noting that the reduction in the total number of missiles fired by Iran is not just due to the fact that they run through some of their stockpiles, at least partly a strategic decision, as even Fox News admits.

Quote,

finite stockpiles.

Now there's an important point made towards the end of that paragraph.

Persistent attacks force defenders to remain on high alert.

This is true, and it also brings us to another under-discussed aspect of attrition, the energy and time of the soldiers our administration expects to fight this war for them.

And we'll talk about that after another brace of ads.

And we're back.

Too often people who want to war game out how the US will perform in a given conflict just focus on the theoretical capabilities of the vehicles and weapons systems we own.