Sending a THAAD air defense system to Israel adds to strain on US Army forces

WASHINGTON — The deployment of a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Battery to Israel and about 100 soldiers to operate it will increase the already heavy strain on the army’s air defense forces and cause possible delays in the modernization of its missile defense systems, army leaders said Monday.

The agency’s two top leaders declined to provide details the deployment on the orders of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during the weekend. But they spoke broadly about their concerns as demand for THAAD and Patriot missile batteries grows due to the war in Ukraine and the escalating situation. conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Hamas militants.

“The air defense and artillery community is the most stressed. They have the highest ‘op tempo’ of any part of the military,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said, using a phrase that indicated the pace of operations. “We continually seek to be as disciplined as possible and provide Secretary Austin with the information he needs to accurately assess the strain on the force as he considers future operational deployments.”

Wormuth said the military must be careful about “what we do. But of course, in a world that is so volatile, sometimes we have to do what we have to do.”

The Pentagon announced the deployment of THAAD on Sunday, saying it was authorized at the direction of President Joe Biden. U.S. officials said the system will be moved from a location in the continental United States to Israel and that it will take several days for the system and soldiers to arrive. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of troop movements.

This move adds to rising tensions within the Defense Department over what weapons that the US can afford to send to UkraineIsrael or elsewhere and the resulting risks to America’s military readiness and its ability to protect the nation.

“Everyone wants U.S. Army air defense forces,” Gen. Randy George, Army chief of staff, said Monday as he and Wormuth answered questions from reporters at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference. “This is our most deployable formation.”

The decision to send the THAAD came as Israel is widely believed to be preparing a military response Iran’s October 1 attackwhen it fired about 180 rockets into Israel. Israel already has a multi-layer air defense system, but a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base Four soldiers were killed and seven others seriously injured on Sunday, underscoring the potential need for more protection.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon have clashed since October 8, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets across the border in support of its ally. Hamas in Gaza. Sunday’s drone strike was Hezbollah’s deadliest attack since Israel launched its attack ground invasion of Lebanon almost two weeks ago.

Because the THAAD deployment involves only about 100 soldiers, it will not place enormous additional pressure on air defense forces, Wormuth said at the conference.

But it adds to the pace of their deployment. Since the frenetic pace of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has slowed, the military has tried to ensure that soldiers at home have enough time to train and reset between deployments.

Reducing that so-called dwell time could impact the Army’s ability to keep good soldiers in the force.

“They’re very good, but obviously they’re deployed for a year and they come back for a year and they’re deployed for a year — it’s hard for anyone to do,” George said.

He said the military is looking at a number of ways to limit the border the impact on recruitment and retentionincluding increasing the force and modernizing the systems so that fewer soldiers are needed to operate them.

But the repeated deployments make it difficult to get the systems into depots where they can be upgraded.

As a result, Wormuth said, Army leaders try to make their arguments as clear as possible when combatant commanders go to Austin and ask for another Patriot system in the Middle East or a different system. one for Ukraine.

“We need to be able to bring these units home to go through that modernization process,” she said. “So we’re trying to explain that to Secretary Austin so he can weigh those risks — essentially current versus future risks — as he makes recommendations to the president about whether he should send the Patriot here or there.”