The U.S. Military Faces a "Reality Lesson" in the Iran Conflict

According to a report by Reference News on May 8, the Spanish newspaper "El Periódico" published an article on May 3 titled "America's Bitter Path: Drones, 'Mosquito Fleets,' and Industrial Dilemmas," authored by Manuel Pérez. The full text is excerpted as follows:

Since the end of World War II, every time the United States has initiated a war, it has begun with a grand military deployment and cutting-edge technology. Initial battles often achieve overwhelming victories, but the final outcomes are frequently disappointing. This is a cyclical pattern of "tactical victories in lightning wars" and "strategic failures in the long term," with effects lasting for decades.

The current conflict with Iran has led the U.S. to repeat its past mistakes. The initial devastating strikes against Iran's political core and military were supposed to lead to a swift victory. However, two months have passed, and the situation has become stalemated. Despite the opponent being poorer, less developed, and having a military force vastly inferior to that of the U.S., they refuse to surrender. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is a clear example.

This world's most powerful navy is trapped in the throat of the Persian Gulf, unable to reopen this core transportation route for global energy and many critical supplies. Regardless, this military operation against Tehran has exposed new problems.

A commentary in The New York Times bluntly stated that the war initiated by the Trump administration has revealed that "the U.S. is utterly unprepared for modern warfare." Many domestic media outlets in the U.S., such as The Wall Street Journal and Fox News, have recently published similar comments.

For decades, modern warfare has been a contest between complex, flexible, and dynamic economic systems (especially industrial systems). From this perspective, Iran should have been completely suppressed by the U.S. However, the proliferation of dual-use technologies has given rise to a large number of cheap, multifunctional, and highly lethal new weapons, many of which can be accessed by various countries.

Drones and small "mosquito fleets" are typical examples; Iran uses these lightweight assets to attack enemy vessels, effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz. In the face of these weapons, the U.S. Navy lacks effective interception and defense systems. The cutting-edge technology that Silicon Valley prides itself on has faced a harsh reality in the first large-scale war of the artificial intelligence era. The "absolute technological control" envisioned by Palantir Technologies is unlikely to be realized in the short term.

The U.S. Navy has repeatedly found itself in difficult situations on the Iranian battlefield. A drone worth about $30,000 has destroyed facilities and equipment valued at tens of millions of dollars; a single Iranian missile has incapacitated the $1.1 billion AN/FPS-132 radar, blinding critical U.S. monitoring and command systems.

According to CNN, 16 U.S. military bases in the Middle East have been damaged or incapacitated due to drone and missile attacks, rendering the so-called "military fortresses" virtually useless. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's empty talk of boosting morale and promoting the spirit of military valor is of no help.

The U.S. military urgently needs to develop new weapons to effectively counter these new threats. In the short term, it also needs to urgently replenish ammunition, as existing stocks are nearing depletion. In the long term, if the U.S. wants to continue to control major global trade routes, it must expand the size of its naval fleet.

Adapting to new forms of warfare requires not only a significant amount of time and funding but also relies on a diverse and flexible economic and industrial system. However, the U.S. economy has long focused on high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence, leaving traditional industries nearly hollowed out, making reconstruction extremely difficult.

Building ships requires shipyards with a century-long heritage and skilled workers, but the U.S. now has only a few ship repair companies left, having long lost its shipbuilding capabilities. The same goes for drone development and anti-drone system construction. After being attacked by U.S. forces last June, Iran's industrial capacity unexpectedly recovered, maintaining a drone inventory at 40% of pre-war levels, a recovery speed that the U.S. cannot match.

Trump has requested a $1.5 trillion military budget for the next fiscal year from Congress, a 40% increase, and this figure does not even include the costs of the war against Iran. The officially announced war costs are $25 billion, but experts estimate that the actual expenditures are far higher.

This war will only further exacerbate the militarization of American society, adding more challenges to a global economy already hindered by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. will be forced to incur more debt, and Europe and other Western allies of the U.S. will ultimately foot the bill. (Translation/ Han Chao)