"We don’t usually run operations like this" – Trump’s low‐altitude strategy that was bound to get shot down... What is the real reason? [Video]

[The Financial News] Experts have criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for appearing to launch a reckless war without proper preparation.
Baek Seung-hoon, a research fellow at the Institute of Middle East Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, made this point on the 6th during an appearance on "YTN News Start."
Baek explained, "Under normal circumstances, the United States would first carry out large-scale bombing to strike fixed facilities, and then deploy ground troops to eliminate remaining threats. However, because there are virtually no ground forces prepared, they are pushing ahead with air operations alone."
He went on, "At this point, the U.S. military has already destroyed more than 10,000 targets, so they are conducting military operations when there is hardly anything left to hit. Yet they still need to pressure Iran, so they are carrying out missions in which A-10 attack aircraft and Apache helicopters fly at low altitude and strike targets one by one."
When helicopters fly at low altitude, even a highly capable air force faces a much greater risk of being shot down, which is why such tactics are rarely adopted. Baek argued that the U.S. military resorted to this type of operation because there was no concrete plan in place to deploy ground troops.
He noted, "In the 2003 Iraq War and the Afghanistan War that we remember, the United States deployed eight and seven infantry divisions respectively—ground forces of 100,000 and 110,000 troops—to completely neutralize enemy air defenses. Right now, there is no such level of preparation."
Baek added, "It is true that Iran’s influence has been significantly weakened," but stressed, "The fact that U.S. fighter jets have been shot down shows that the United States has been conducting a risky air campaign that is different from its previous wars—operations relying solely on air power. As a result, they exposed themselves to danger, and that is why A-10 attack aircraft and F-15 fighter jets have been shot down. I believe it is accurate to analyze this as a mistake by the United States."
Recently, Iranian state media released photos of a burned U.S. fighter jet and declared that shooting down three U.S. fighter jets over three days was "a victory graced by divine favor."
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, said, "If we achieve this kind of victory three more times, the United States will be completely destroyed."

The United States had long claimed that it had secured air superiority over Iran, but the reality turned out to be different. CNN likewise commented that this "poured cold water on the Trump administration’s claim that it had complete control of the skies over Iran and on the myth of its impregnability."
President Trump had asserted, "Iran no longer has a navy, no longer has an air force, and no longer has an air defense system." Yet on the same day it shot down an F-15E fighter jet, Iran also downed an A-10 Warthog attack aircraft near Qeshm Island in the south, demonstrating that it still possesses air-defense capabilities. In addition, Iran announced that it had shot down three advanced U.S. military drones.
Notably, over the past weekend, a member of the United States military who had gone missing deep inside Iran was dramatically rescued.
President Trump lavished praise on himself over the operation that successfully rescued the missing service member from the heart of enemy territory, but public opinion has remained icy.
This is because the disappearance of the U.S. service member was a crisis that could easily have turned into a major political disaster for Washington. Had Iran captured the missing soldier alive, it could have used him as a powerful bargaining chip in any negotiations to end the war.
As a result, some observers say that this rescue mission not only saved the U.S. soldier, but also salvaged President Trump’s political future.
gaa1003@fnnews.com Ahn Ga-eul Reporter