Were any US missiles shot down?

Syria said they shot down 13.
Time will probably tell us the truth.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-down-13-missiles-state-tv-idUSKBN1HL042

I would think any anti-missle battery that engaged, would then be obliterated, but, just a guess.

My thought as well ^^^^ "You light 'em up. We'll shut 'em down."

I am no expert but cruise missiles are jet powered not rocket powered.Travel at 550 mph.More than one type of cruise missile?

Yes, ALCM (air launch cruise missle) and Tomahawk missle

none shot down.

They’re saying we fired a bunch.

"The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a total of three scientific research centers had been hit in the attacks"

I wonder what type of research was being conducted.

Pentagon press-conference just now said somewhere around 150 strikes on three targets and zero intercepts.

They said this morning, that their AA defense system was overwhelmed.

Somebody needs to ask that b i t c h how crow tastes.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/0...sad-after-suspected-chemical-attack.html

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. did not coordinate targets with or notify the Russian government of the strikes, beyond normal airspace "de-confliction" communications.

Dunford said missiles first struck a scientific research center in the Damascus area that he said was a center of Syrian research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology. The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs. He said this was believed to be the main site of Syrian sarin and precursor chemical production equipment.

The third target was a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, also west of Homs, Dunford said.

Interesting bit from the Pentagon briefing is that Russian air defenses did not engage. Suppose Assad was getting spanked for putting a kink in Putin's plans? Also that 40 Syrian air defense missiles weren't fired until after all ours hit. And some went ballistic - what goes up must come down. Great fodder for collateral damage claims.

So, America+Allies showed who's still boss, and the Syrians+Russians showed that they still ain't got it decades after the supposed end of the Cold War.

Trump is MAGA once again, with a single drop of American blood being shed over it.

Shall we compare that to the Zero's response?

Zeero did nothing but spank his monkey, Trump showed the entire world how a real US leader responds. Go Trump MAGA.

Well said if it ends here...

I don't believe for a moment that 'we' want to remove Assad.

Anybody believe this:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...air-defences-shot-down-majority-missiles

?

I fully agree.

Ed

Don't know what to believe yet... news in the middle of the night showed one intercept that was non mistakable... this mornings news showing damage at the 3 sites was mighty little for some 120 cruise missle if they all got through. Now this morning Russia calls for an emergency UN meeting.

Phil

I couldn't believe we wanted to remove Saddam Hussein.

In the attack on Baghdad years ago, we used jet powered target drones in the first wave, which simulated American attack aircraft. The Iraqis lit up their AAA sites and our standoff ECM platforms lasered the AAA sites and directed missiles down the wire and eliminated the AAA sites before our attack aircraft showed up.

Yep but because of this...






I’m unsure what or who to trust/believe.

All begs the question... who is the ‘we’ in Scott’s post? Seems less & less clear that it isn’t ‘they’. Clearly WE don’t want him toppled...

We is the royal we, including President Trump.

We used myriad different weapons , JASM, JSOW, JDAM and Tomahawks. but I'm sure some anti-radiation stuff too in support of Iron Hand (Flak suppression) .Brits and Froggies also used their own stuff. We suffered zero combat losses and ordnance pretty much was spot on target.

I had just read that and it says new Russian equipment was used it shoot them down. I have no way of judging whether the Guardian is slanted or not. I did see other reports showing a dozen or more sights that were blown to bits but hard to tell if those were results of last nights attacks. At present I don't feel many could have been shot down since death toll so far is <1 .

Maybe this strike was needed. Maybe it really was Assad who used gas. Maybe it shows the world we have a leader to be believed. What hasn't changed is that I still don't know exactly who it is we are backing over there. We might believe we picked some honorable combatant but recent history has yet to prove we have had success of ANY kind doing this -and if we somehow did, we would abandon them.

Maybe protraction of this quagmire is the goal.

I'm not even sure that any aircraft entered Syrian airspace, they wouldn't have to.

I expect it will.

The Russians are threatening selling some S-300 systems to the Syrians, but they don't really want to, because that will just give us more practice destroying and defeating their systems.

Not for one second.

The Syrians don't have anything more modern than the 70's vintage SA-6 and SA-8's.

Obama's legacy.

Well said.....you're not as dumb as I look.

Isn't that the goal of any proxy war?

Make your adversary pay the maximum price for any geopolitical gains?

And what purpose would be served by killing Assad? Of the three major players in the area, Russia, Iran, and US, we have the least presence the the least ability to guide events to a more advantageous outcome. Killing Assad would provide no strategic advantage. The most we would want to do to him personally at this time is what Reagan did to Gaddafi, and drop a JDAM on his previous nights bed.

B-1s out of Guam made it to the dance. 😉

They can fire long range ordinance, don't need to be right over the target.

And, from what I heard, they were escorted by F-22's, just in case someone wanted to get cute.

DF

Hussein,(the Iraqai not the pos that invaded the White house) made the mistake of putting a hit out on G.Bush the first. junior had to defend his daddy. at our expense and resulting in the complete destabilization of the region.

It was a demonstration. A show of force. "There's a new sheriff in town!"

Trump is putting the world on notice - Iran and North Korea in particular - of what we are capable of and that we aren't afraid to use force.

I think this rearranges the assumptions - and hopefully future behavior - in Iran, North Korea, Russia and China.

Everybody plays by the same rules. The biggest kid on the block makes the rules.

Looking back , I agree with deerstalker. Bush Jr attacked Iraq in retaliation for events his daddy put in place. A very bad decision. I think Bush Jr was a good man and respected our military. He was a poor POTUS. His decisions created the situation we are facing today. He eroded our freedoms with the Patriot Act. He is a globalist. Republican version of Jimmy Carter.

Yes, but would they have swapped out the B-52s for the B-1s a few days ago ifin there wasn't a need for speed?

It sorta resets the table for the upcoming summit, Trump and the midget.

DF

First of all ANYONE who thinks "The Guardian" is not a leftist rag ala the Wa Post and NY Times needs their head examined .

Secondly- Putin and the Russian leadership are all ex Soviet KGB thugs..Everything they say is untenfed for domestic consumruon ti orop up their little dictatoeship.

Remember all the bluster we heard from them prior to 1989 about how "Awesome" Soviet weaponry was? And look what happened to it during the First Gulf war and OZ's curtain got pulled back.

And Third- as to the Syrians claims about shooting down 13 of our missles- remember what a bastion of truth "Bagdad Bob" was during the invasion of Iraq..

All of the above also tells us much about the validity of Syrian claims of not using chemical weapons on their own people.

Dubya didn't attack anyone. He was window dressing. He said what he was told to say, then let the big boys do what they wanted to do. Unlike Trump, though, he knew that was his role going in. Trump had to be spanked into accepting that role.

Syrians and the Russians can't even keep their lies straight. Syrians claims 13 missiles intercepted, Russians are claiming 71.

Wonder if they flew out of Sigonella or Aviano? If they did, I'm sure there was a HUGE tanker package mission tied to the whole mission. Sad day for the Navy, this was a tailor made strike for the Air Wing in my day
Brits flew out of Akrotiri is Cyprus I'm betting
PS: turning over a new leaf and refusing to take the bait TRH and the kooks are putting out. NOBODY (well almost) NOBODY can be THAT stupid

The intercept video was misleading That missile detonated at an altitude FAR above the level which cruise missiles fly.

Look at how low a operational Tomahawk missile actually flies.



In this video you hear all the bombs going off and then later a missile is fired to a much higher altitude than which Tomahawks fly



Not incontrovertible evidence but it sure seems to agree exactly with what the Pentagon briefer had to say. The Pentagon briefer said unequivocally that all the missiles hit their targets before the Syrians opened fire. I believe the Military official in the Pentagon and I don't believe what Syrian and Russian propagandists are saying.

In addition WE have NO idea whatsover the total extent of the damages caused by the missiles during this attack. All you know about is the few pictures that they have shown you. There could be massive amounts of additional damage that they simply haven't shown pictures of. My thoughts are that this was said to be a precise limited attack so widespread devastation is highly unlikely anyway.

All in all a message was certainly sent. And hopefully we won't have to be doing anything more in Syria. But I wouldn't count on it......

That is exactly right. Same "light show" we saw during the first Gulf War. Bunch of idiots firing AAA ballistically, with really little chance of hitting anything..

From photo evidence of the destruction, they didn't shoot down many of them...

DF

They came from everywhere, from the Red Sea, from the Med. from B1's out a ways. They all were fired, then coordinated to hit targets, all within a very few minutes. Pretty amazing technology. "Mad dog" Mattis and his team put together a flawless execution, all coordinated with the Brits and French. Not a small a accomplisment.

DF

Shot from everywhere EXCEPT the cruiser they mentioned. Also from a sub.

DF

For those of you trying to make sense of "who we were targeting," well we weren't. We weren't trying to get Assad, or Russians, or Syrians, or ISIS, or anyone in particular.

The Good Guys just needed to give a show of force against the Bad Guys, and what better way than to warn everyone ahead of time and then shoot to pieces the gas factories (the only thing everyone in the world can agree on as bad). This was a basic no-strings-attached drive-by bombing.

This is Trump being the Non-Zero and Ivanka's dad, with the world watching.

Were there any casualties at all???

They apparently launched JASSM-ER's, so they would have never needed to entire Syrian airspace.

The briefing said US Fighter aircraft were in on the mission. Guess we'll know eventually.

I seriously doubt that this show of force will impress them for long. This is a holy war. They still remember the crusades.

Does 150 cruise missiles with ZERO intercepts = Russian collusion?


MAGA

Part of the tanker support...

This still is the Crusades, for all intents and purposes. There's no way around that given the geopolitical and religious subtexts of the nations involved.

Thus, we shouldn't forget that either.

I don't think they intercepted many if any at all. Putin was talking crap about returning fire to where the missiles came from but when you don't intercept any you don't fire back to get another round of missiles shot up your rectum.

No way he knew where they were coming from, which even included a sub or subs, cruisers from the Red Sea, all over. The one cruiser they had mentioned fired nothing. It was in the Med, probably used as a decoy.

They were out classed, over whelmed, no way they could have hit back.

Now, there may be the Devil to pay down the road. Old Vlad is a sneaky KGB operative and he doesn't forget.

DF

I agree. Impressive demonstration.

Yobama wouldn’t have done cshit

Would have peed his pants, hiding under the desk.

I remember his “deer in the headlights” expression as they watched the Bin Laden raid live in real time.

DF

His “deer in the headlights” look paled in comparison to Klintons look which was a cross between Bells Palsy and Down syndrome with a touch of alcohol induced dysphoria.

I heard good Ole Oliver North make a couple really good points today that people should be thinking about.....

32 years ago when Reagan ordered a strike on Libya, France wouldn't even allow us to Fly over their territory, The FB-111's had to take a very long detour around French Airspace.

In 2013 when Obama "drew the Red Line" in Syria the British Parliament completely stopped any cooperation with the US in actions in Syria.

In 2018 with Trump both France and Great Britain were Flying side by side with the US firing weapons against a common enemy for a common goal.

There is SO much virulent hatred of Trump that people are blinded towards what he has achieved that both the right and the lefts favorite ex-presidents were unable to come anywhere near. I think that Trump might very well be far more respected overseas than he is at home. Respected overseas if for no other reason that he does exactly what he says he's going to do.

China wouldn't even roll up stairs to Airforce One when Obama visited, Trump received a historic reception in the forbidden City. France and England are once again fighting side by side with America and Trump when they wouldn't with Reagan or Obama. Even the crazy North Korean is thinking about ditching Nukes and meeting with a US President for the first time in History. You really just have to admit that all of these would be a lot bigger deals if it were any President other than Trump..................DJ

You can’t confuse the Left with facts. It’s all emotion and they hate The Donald’s guts.

Go Trump...!!

DF

Aces, you have a way with words, my friend.

In May 2016 the Russians made big promises to Syria, for big money no doubt, and others looking to Russia for cutting edge military defenses. In October of 2017 the Israelis flew f-35's , f16 and f18 into Damascus and degraded some of these defenses in the hands of Hezbollah and all planes returned unscathed. Additional raids have occurred. The Israeli's warned the Russians - per an agreement between the two countries- but only at the last moment possible. The Iranians were supposedly angry and accused the Russians of supplying codes to the Israeli's which gave IAF impunity. The Iranians say they figured this out that they were able to change codes to shoot at Israeli air force assets. In February 2018 the Israeli's shot down an Iranian drone in their airspace then target the command center for that drone that resulted in the loss of one F16. The first plane Israel has lost in a very long time. The Israelis then attacked 3 Syrian air defense batteries and 4 Iranian positions inside Syria. Kind of nice having someone field test our own stuff for us isn't it? (Yes I know it is in THEIR interest etc...)

So it appears now that other relying on Russian technology gives one serious cause for pause. The Muslims don't seem to be getting what they are paying for - or don't know how to use it, or aren't really the brothers Russia tells them they are. Perhaps the Russians are playing 3d chess of their own.

For us and for Russia, life is like having a crazy neighbor who asks to borrow a gun to shoot a varmint. You don't want to stay on good terms, he will even pay you, and maybe the varmint is raiding your trash too - but would YOU give him more than one bullet? Some crazy neighbors are just a lot better at varmint shooting than others it seems.

Unfortunately, it is a holy war for the Isis and Al Nusra rebels whom the US supports. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017...ry-linking-cia-and-syria-weapons-flights

Syria is a relatively moderate and secular country with a history of protecting the rights of Christians. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-22270455

They MISSED!!

Actually at the Pentagon briefing General Whatsis said the Syrian batteries launched about 40 after all our stuff landed. Go figure. And the Russians didn't engage.

If they had fired back, they would of gotten to see the Carrier counter-strike package Mattis was holding at the ready.

For sure.

Mad dog was ready, fortunately for them they didn’t jerk his chain.

And how could Putin or anybody take action against the source of the ordinance. It was fired from multiple sources, cruisers in the Red Sea, from subs, from all over. Not from the cruiser they had mentioned. It fired nothing, just sat there in the Med.

DF

Funny thing, rumor has it the french experienced a blackout about the same time those one elevens would have been flying over.

The real "funny thing" was how a laser guided bomb "accidentally" and hit the French Embassy.

Zut alors!

John

As previously mentioned, our most forward deployed surface combatant int he MED is the Cook, placing it forward of the CAG. it's likely the Cook's holding a Air Defense heavy load out. Probably has a few Tomahawks on it, but not many. In addition with at least 2 E-3 airborne during the strike, the Cook would of had a real good view of anything coming it's way.

In contrast Syria has a total of zero dedicated air surveillance platforms. Heck they only have a total of 22 modern aircraft. Everything else they have is 60's vintage Mig 21's and 23's, and a score of SU-24. I doubt the 24s are the more modern M variant, so it's unlikely they have anything that can equip anti-surface ordinance with a range of more than 30 miles, well withing the air envelope of an Arleigh Burke. Any response would of been nothing more than a one way suicide mission for the Syrian Air Farce.

Trump is winning overseas a lot more than anyone in the USA is giving him credit for.

When I was talking to the Syrians and Jordanians and Israelis two weeks ago, they were all big supporters of Trump. "He says what he will do, and does what he says."

Even the haters who didn't want to move the embassy still respected him for following his word.

After Zero, anyone would look good...

But, I agree. Trump is doing a great job. Libs have gone mad, trying to ensnare him. But they seem to be putting the rope around their own necks. Comey and McCabe, calling each other liars. I think they both right...

DF

They (Russians) were wrong!

I heard this morning that Syria fired a number of AA munitions, all were fired AFTER the entire barrage of Allied ordinace had landed. So, they were caught off guard, weren't prepared. The Ruskies either sat this one out or were skunked, too.

Hope the NORK Midget was glued to his TV. The Mullah's for sure saw how this went down.

Not a bad play.

DF

If it was in fact the rebels that "we" support gassed their own people, you can bet the Syrians, Iranians and the Russians are going to do their best to clean up any chemical weapons they have or will have. They are not going to let that mistake happen again. This also means the Syrians, Russians and the Iranians will put on a full court press to eliminate the rebels and end this war. It's becoming a huge black eye for the axis trifecta in the court of world opinion. Now is the time to reduce our profile in Iraq. Iran is now on a march to regain the Persian empire. The only thing in their way is Israel. I'll bet they were planning on Hillary getting elected as well and finishing off Israel. It sucks to be them.

Most of all, the Russians got some 'splaining to do about why their missile system did not work.

kwg

+1

The more I think about this strike and the almost impossible logistics between services and with two allies, I have even more respect for Mattis and his team. What a group of professionals at the top of their game.

Wow....

DF

Innernet forums are so two dimensional. Anything is possible. Things are not what they appear. Anybody ever hear of a double agent? Anybody know what deception looks like? Quit looking at it from a perspective of "the media says it's this, so it must be that". They're playing a much more complicated game.

I would have loved to have seen the look on a Syrian (or Russian) face when they realized they were seeing 100+ missiles inbound on their radar

But I think I figured out why their SAM's were fired after all the incoming missiles hit. The operators ran away, fearing their position was a target. After all the hits, they realized they weren't a target, and had better shoot something to save face

You are presuming they ever saw our missiles on their radar.

The first they know about this raid was the singular large BOOM heard across their country.

I keep seeing that the B-1 launched AGM-158B, but I know, for 100% fact, they were not the ER version. The B-1 was also not launched from Guam.

It still hasn't been confirmed Assad did the gas attack of 2017 but he coped 60 cruise missiles anyway
, now Assad has been hit again within days of another alleged Gas attack....

Maybe this , maybe that ,...maybe gullible types still believe 911 was planned from a cave in Afghanistan
maybe same idiots believe 0-Bin Laden was killed and dumped at sea...



Attacking Assad while Assad was attacking ISIS should give people some idea.



Established long term US foreign policy in the M.E. will run its course with or without Trump as president
and with or without his missile strike antics.

Just heard that a Russian cyber attack may be payback. UK put out a warning about just that.

DF

Are the Russians Correct?

No

Were the desired targets destroyed or not? In a denied environment, you’d employ more weapons to account for losses. If they shot some down but the targets were destroyed, we win, they lose. In my experience Russian stuff sucks. I doubt they did [bleep].

Are they ever?

You need to look at it the right way

The US shot off its Missiles
They went Up
and then they came down.

Maybe Russia will try and take credit in the future for them coming down.

Not much difference cus what go's up usually comes down

i think the cook was carrying somewhere between 60 and 70 cruise missles, which were not fired. It does have a heck of a lot of armament.