NEW YORK, April 30. /TASS/. The US operation in Iran demonstrated that Washington was unprepared for combat in modern conditions, The New York Times (NYT) writes in an editorial.
As the newspaper notes, the United States spends around $1 trillion annually on its military, especially the navy and air force. "America has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on ships and planes that are good at defeating competitors’ ships and planes but ineffective against cheaper, mass-produced weapons," the newspaper writes.
Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and its drones and missiles continue to pose a threat to US allies in the region, the newspaper notes. "Somehow, the weaker nation is in the stronger negotiating position," the NYT states. According to the newspaper, the US "needs to invest in counter-drone technologies." The newspaper writes that the country’s manufacturing capacity is inflexible. "Until recently, a single factory made all of America’s Tomahawk cruise missiles, and there is a constant shortage of Patriot missile interceptors."
According to the NYT, the Pentagon "needs to stop buying so many of its weapons from just five big weapons makers and start betting on dynamic tech companies that can quickly adapt.".