Fox News’ Pentagon reporter Lucas Tomlinson is reporting that there were no anti-missile defenses in place at either of the two based targeted by Iran in last night’s missile attacks:
U.S. military did not attempt to shoot down Iran's ballistic missiles because there were no American military assets in place to intercept them, officials say.
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) January 8, 2020
The anti-missile systems are “in high demand and short supply”:
Patriot and Avenger anti-missile defense systems deployed to other locations in Middle East, but not the two Iraqi bases–al-Asad and Erbil—targeted by Iran.
Officials say the American assets are in high demand and short supply around the world.
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) January 8, 2020
And up until this week, U.S. forces didn’t need them to defend from what was considered the major threat, ISIS:
“For the past few years, our focus was defeating ISIS and keeping a light footprint in Iraq. We did not need air defense systems against ISIS,” as one official explained.
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) January 8, 2020
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