Everything is ready for Red Sands, the joint US-Saudi anti-drone exercises, scheduled for the middle of the month. US Central Command leaders rely on simulations to become the main testing ground in the Middle East for emerging Western technology to counter drones and missiles, thus trying to divert partners and allies in the region from buying advanced military equipment from Beijing.
The United States and Saudi Arabia are working to launch their first joint anti-drone test exercise, which is scheduled for mid-March. In a climate of increasing tension between the United States and Iran, the exercises aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of Western technology in countering drones. Also in an anti-Chinese key, given the competition to ensure an ever greater technological advantage also in the defense sector. “We shouldn’t be surprised if regional partners continue to buy Chinese equipment,” the US Air Force chief, Centcom, said last month in Washington. Alex Greenkowitz.
upcoming exercises
According to US officials, the following Red Sands exercises will see the participation and deployment of other US partner Middle Eastern militaries. This simulation is part of a series of defense exercises conceived by Central Command after the partial withdrawal of the Pentagon’s air defense systems from the Middle East. The goal is to adapt and find new security solutions in the face of Tehran’s rapid advances in the drone war in recent years.
The role of Iranian drones
It has been more than three years since missiles and drones directed from Iran struck Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais, U.S. defense officials have acknowledged that reliance on traditional displays of force has failed to deter attacks. The choice fell on Saudi Arabia also because of its vast expanses of open desert, far from urban centers, where directed energy air defense weapons could also be tested.
The new simulation
But as the American newspaper pointed out, the direct energy will not come into effect as early as March, but only from the following exercises. US military officials will present their Saudi counterparts with a new computer simulator developed last year. This simulator, called the Interim Anti-Drone Training Tool (Impact), is designed to train personnel to respond to enemy drone attacks.
Austin in the Middle East
US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd AustinHe will arrive in the Middle East later this week, trying to follow up on the Biden administration’s efforts to persuade the Arab military to share intelligence and cooperate in building a regional air defense network to better protect itself from potential Iranian threats. Indeed, sanctions imposed by the West have so far failed to disrupt Iran’s supply chains necessary to continue expanding its arsenal of conventional missiles and drones.
Twitter Images/CentCom
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