war

In major conflicts, strategists used to say that wars are not won only on the front, but in the factories. During World War II, for example, Washington produced more planes in a month than some countries in an entire year, and that industrial difference ended up tipping the balance. Today, that same logic re-emerges in a different and much more accelerated form, one where the speed of production can be as decisive as precision on the battlefield. A war that is measured in warehouses. The war between Iran, Israel and the United States It has stopped revolving around the conquest of positions or classic air superiority and has transformed into something much colder and more arithmetic: a race to see who runs out of ammunition first. An analysis that, in fact, was already circulating before Washington’s initial attacks and that after the first day it became clear. Tehran would not try to compete in air dominance or sustained strategic bombing, but in something simpler and potentially devastating: launching enough missiles and drones to force its enemies to spend more than they can replenish. The question, therefore, is no longer who hits the hardest, but who can sustain the rhythm the longest. The prior notice. As we said, even before this new escalation, senior US officials they had warned that previous conflicts in the region had dangerously eroded interceptor reserves. Systems like THAAD, Patriot either Standard Missile had already been used intensively in previous episodesand the data pointed to significant percentages of the annual stock consumed in a few days of combat. Behind this idea there is a reality: manufacturing these interceptors is neither fast nor cheap, and the industry has been working for years. showing difficulties to increase the rate of production. The problem was not hypothetical: the depth of magazines (the so-called magazine Depth) was already a cause for concern before this open phase of the conflict began. The economic equation: millions against missiles. In other words, Iran has turned cost into your main weapon strategic. In the first few moments alone, it launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and more than half a thousand drones against targets in Israel and the Gulf. Although the interception rate in places like the United Arab Emirates has been extraordinary, around 92%the bill is brutal. While Tehran invests hundreds of millions in its salvos, defenders they spend billions in interceptors that cost between four and five million dollars per unit, often firing two or more for each incoming threat. In the case of drones, the contrast is even sharper: platforms that cost tens of thousands force the use of expensive interceptors. in hundreds of thousands or more. For every dollar Iran spends, its adversaries may be shelling out between five and ten, and in some segments the ratio skyrockets. up to twenty to one. Submunitions and saturation. Far from reducing the pace, Iran has begun to use some of its most advanced missiles, capable of releasing submunitions during reentry and expanding the impact area, further complicating interception. Videos broadcast In networks they show launchers firing nine or eleven interceptors against a single missile, sometimes without success. The daily figures are eloquent: between 200 and 220 Iranian missiles launched per day against at 700 or even 1,000 interceptors fired by the coalition. Despite massive bombing raids on Iranian bases, mobile launchers and air defenses, launch capacity remains high, with hundreds of missiles and drones still available. The war is becoming a duel of logistical resistance rather than a contest of surgical precision. Four or five days: the critical window. At this point, various analysts agree that, at the current rate, interceptor reserves could be depleted in a matter of minutes. four or five days. This estimate does not arise from speculation, but from a simple intersection between Iranian launch cadence and coalition defensive consumption. Each interceptor fired is one that cannot be replaced immediately; Its manufacture can take months or years. If the conflict extends beyond From that window, the balance could quickly tip, not because Iran manages to destroy all strategic objectives, but because the shield that protects them begins to empty. The American problem. Hence, the disturbing idea for the United States is that if the war with Iran lasts more than those five days, its chances of winning would begin to descend. Not necessarily in immediate territorial or political terms, but rather in the more tangible realm of available ammunition. Every Patriot, THAAD, or naval interceptor fired in the Gulf is a resource that would also be crucial in a hypothetical conflict with China or North Korea. If the campaign becomes a protracted exchange, technological superiority may be neutralized by simple cost arithmetic and production time. Iran appears to have chosen a economic war in the form of missilesand contrary to what it may seem, that choice gives it a structural advantage: it can afford to waste cheaper projectiles for longer than its adversaries can afford to fire theirs. Numbers war. The question that summarizes this phase of the conflict is brutally simple: What will run out first, the Iranian launchers or the coalition interceptors? So far, neither intensive bombing nor the elimination of key targets have reduced decisively Tehran’s launch capacity. Meanwhile, defensive warehouses are being emptied at an accelerated rate. From that prism, the war is no longer decided only in the sky over Tehran or Tel Aviv, but on assembly lines and in the industrial capacity to replace what was fired. Image | Glenn Fawcett, Gieling, Rob In Xataka | The US used one of the oldest practices of war to bomb Iran: reverse engineering with an unprecedented weapon In Xataka | To sink a US aircraft carrier required a weapon that Iran did not have. The arrival of China has just changed everything