The crisis in the Middle East is out of control. The White House doesn’t want Americans to know that.
Because Joe Biden has been caught lying to cover up the deaths of U.S. Army troops.
The initial assessment conducted by the U.S. military regarding the drone attack that claimed the lives of three U.S. troops in Jordan on January 28 has yielded findings that challenge earlier speculations. According to a report from The Washington Post released on Tuesday, there appears to be a contradiction in the initial determination compared to the initial theories on how the enemy drone managed to evade detection.
Initially, U.S. defense officials hypothesized that the Iran-backed drone managed to confuse the Tower 22 radar systems by timing its approach coincidentally with that of a U.S. Army drone returning to base. However, preliminary findings from the military’s incident investigation into the tragic attack suggest otherwise.
As per The Washington Post, citing a U.S. defense official with direct insight into the assessment, it’s believed that the explosive-laden drone flew at an altitude too low to be picked up by the base’s detection systems.
The defense official, speaking anonymously to disclose sensitive findings, highlighted that the drone’s low flight path resulted in its evasion from detection. This account was reportedly confirmed by another defense official to The Post.
Furthermore, it was noted that Tower 22 lacks systems capable of outright destruction of drone threats; instead, it operates electronic warfare systems meant to disable or disrupt enemy drones’ flight paths.
It’s emphasized that assessments are subject to change with the emergence of new information, and the investigation into the drone attack is still ongoing. Before the incident at Tower 22 in late January, no U.S. troops had lost their lives in approximately 160 drone and rocket attacks on bases in Iraq and Syria since October 17. Most of these attacks either caused no damage to infrastructure or were successfully intercepted, while some resulted in injuries, including traumatic brain injuries.
.@USArmy equips the Coyote unmanned aircraft system with an advanced seeker and warhead for counter-UAS missions: https://t.co/XQZvw4x1a1 #FIA18 pic.twitter.com/RFuzKdcQcK
— RTX (@RTX_News) July 17, 2018
Instances of drones flying at low altitudes intentionally to evade radar detection were highlighted in The Post’s report. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, when asked on Monday about the Department of Defense’s confidence in its counter-drone defenses in the Middle East, refrained from direct comments on readiness levels. However, Ryder assured that countering drone threats is a significant priority taken very seriously.
“I’m not going to get into readiness levels, other than we obviously understand that counter-drone is a significant requirement and something that I can assure you is taken very, very seriously,” he said to reporters.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has also refrained from commenting on whether the Iran-backed militants behind the Tower 22 attack were aware of potential gaps in the base’s air defenses. Given that the majority of attacks had been concentrated in Iraq and Syria, Tower 22 in Jordan, located just miles away from a targeted U.S. base in Syria, was considered a low-threat environment.
A defense official informed The Post that this assessment was based on the pattern of attacks, with the vast majority targeting facilities in Iraq and Syria.
However, the defensive posture at the base has reportedly shifted since the attack, though specifics were not disclosed. According to the official, changes based on lessons learned from the Tower 22 attack are being implemented without awaiting the completion of the investigation.
Politico reported that approximately 90 minutes after the Tower 22 attack, an enemy drone targeted the nearby al-Tanf Garrison in Syria. However, this drone was successfully intercepted and shot down by a U.S. counter-drone unmanned aerial system, Raytheon’s Coyote, according to a DOD official and another U.S. official cited in the report.
“This was based on the vast majority of the threats and 99 percent of the [Iranian-proxy] attacks being against facilities in Iraq and Syria,” the official said. The official added that the base’s defensive posture has shifted since the attack but declined to offer specifics.
“We are not waiting for the investigation to be complete to implement changes from lessons learned in the tragic attack on Tower 22,” the DOD official noted.
Regardless of how the drone was able to evade detection, the American public is left with more questions about how much the Joe Biden administration is to be trusted on foreign policy matters.
With his already abysmal approval ratings, these failures as commander-in-chief simply aren’t going to help make Joe Biden’s re-election campaign efforts any easier.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
