In 2022, the Chinese Winter Olympics and the Lunar New Year double happiness at the door, watching the Olympic athletes compete for gold and silver, watching the women's football girls win the Asian Cup, we are all rejoicing.
Yet the Americans are only plugging us up at this time.
On February 7, the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the Biden administration announced that it had approved a $100 million sale to Taiwan, including a five-year "Patriot" system engineering service plan.
In short, it is the United States that wants to help Bay upgrade the Patriot missile system.
Bay Bay was purchased in 2009 from the "Patriot" missile purchased from the United States in 1997, and according to online information, Bay Bay currently has 7 "Patriot" missile companies.
Patriot missile
The "Patriot" system, which has been developed in the United States since the early 1960s, is now old, and even many of the missile bodies that were previously produced are close to the final shelf life.
So what does this missile system look like?
In fact, the "Patriot" air defense missile system is a theater missile system developed by the United States, which is part of the famous TMD system, and its world war fame depended on the Gulf War.
In 1991, Iraq invaded Kuwait, followed by the United States led multinational force began to attack the Iraqi army, the Gulf War broke out, due to the huge inferiority in the army and air force weapons, Iraq's expected armored cluster confrontation did not appear, but Iraq's ground forces became the target of the UNITED States Air Force and helicopter gunships.
The Iraqis suffered heavy losses and no counterforce, and the only thing Saddam Hussein had in his hands to launch a counterattack against the coalition forces, and his only killer weapon, was Scud missiles.
At that time, the multinational coalition included Western countries and Arab countries, in order to counter the coalition and alienate the relations between countries, Saddam Hussein listed the multinational force and Saudi Arabia as the target of Scud, and also attacked the Arab country's sworn enemy Israel one after another.
At that time, the most effective weapon for americans to intercept Scud missiles was the Patriot missile, at that time in order to publicize their victory and Saddam's incompetence, the Americans exaggerated the actual record of the Patriot missile in propaganda, because the Americans were in control of the media, so after the Gulf War, the Patriot missile and the Apache gunship, F15, F16 fighter, MIA1 Amrams tank and so on became the star weapon.
The Gulf War not only allowed the United States to show off its military power, but also made a successful advertisement for these weapons, and since then these weapons have become the standard of pro-American countries, and they have purchased these weapons in large quantities, further expanding the influence of the United States, and making American arms dealers make a lot of money.
For example, the local tycoons in the Middle East have a large number of M1 tanks, F15 fighters and Patriot missiles and other weapons for themselves.
But it turns out that the Patriot missile is not as bullish as the United States says. One of the most face-slapping was the attack on Saudi Arabia's oil base in 2020.
On September 14, 2020, Saudi Arabia's Aramco's Buqaq plant and the Khurais oil field were suddenly attacked by drones and missiles, according to the Saudi side's after-the-fact investigation, Saudi Arabia's oil facilities were attacked by 18 drones and 7 ballistic missiles, resulting in a 50% reduction in Saudi production in a single day, and it was later confirmed that these drones and missiles were made by Iran, but Iran and Yemen's Houthi armed forces were equipped.
After the incident, the Houthis in Yemen said that they had launched the attack, while saudi arabia and the Americans blamed Iran for it, but none of this mattered, the key thing was that when drones and ballistic missiles attacked, the Patriot air defense system equipped by Saudi Arabia near the oil facility did not respond, becoming a decoration and "blind".
The Americans defended the incompetence of the Saudi Patriot missiles, saying that this was all due to the poor training of the Saudi veterans, but in fact, in addition to the Saudi-purchased Patriot missile system near the site of the attack, there was also the US Fifth Fleet where the Americans were stationed in Bahrain.
The U.S. Fifth Fleet is powerful and has strong anti-aircraft firepower, and their permanent base in the Persian Gulf is Bahrain. It is close to the Saudi oil facility that was attacked.
However, in addition to the total blindness of the Saudi Patriot missile system, the air defense system of the US Fifth Fleet also became "blind", and it was not until after the attack that it was realized.
In other words, the Americans say that their Patriot missile system is stronger than the Russian-made S300 and S400 missile systems, and there may be Americans and their iron (dog) powder (legs) to firmly believe.
Otherwise, why would Turkey, a major country in the Middle East and a close partner of the United States and a member of NATO, still resolutely talk about the elimination of the US Patriot missile system in the $4 billion anti-aircraft missile system tender issued in 2009. Even in spite of the pressure and sanctions of the Americans, we must resolutely buy the Russian S400.
S400 air defense system purchased by Turkey
Because Turkey knows that if $4 billion buys patriots, it will have obvious political significance over military significance. Than too low.
If you want to upgrade the Santana sedan that swept the world 40 years ago in 2022, and hope that he can be more powerful than the current Tesla, it is a fool's dream.
But some people are like this, they not only spend a lot of money to upgrade the dilapidated F16, but also spend a lot of money to upgrade the Patriots.
Tell me, why? What is the picture?