According to Air Power Australia, the West has paid scant attention to a growing problem—the evolution of Cold War legacy surface-to-air missiles into hybrid forms. Defense analyst Carlo Kopp writing in APA’s Notam says that this hybridization—the relatively inexpensive but sophisticated upgrades to stocks of older SAMs—may well “be occurring on a larger scale than previously anticipated.” He says the “more sophisticated upgrades” increase “radar performance, jam resistance, and track capabilities” and even the mobility or kinematic range. Kopp’s Notam offers examples. This is worth noting.
Some U.S. personnel are evacuating Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, America’s main military base in the Middle East, as President Donald Trump is weighing military action against Iran in response to its crackdown on protestors, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
