The Iron Dome and other precision airstrikes may no longer be a magic wand. The armies are aware of this. The United States believed that the military revolution would be a turning point after the 1991 Gulf War. It subsequently gained world domination, but it faced failures in the Balkans and in securing airspace in Iraq and Somalia. Finally, the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan showed that accuracy, even with modern airstrikes and drones, could not lead to victory in war.
The United States left Iraq in 2011 and later returned. The country has now withdrawn from most of its bases in Iraq due to the harassment of pro-Iranian militants using 107mm rockets and drones. The United States responded to airstrikes in 2019, March 2020, and February 2021. But airstrikes did not lead to victory in the war. Similarly, the United States is withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years. The American counterinsurgency doctrine and similar versions such as the COIN have been widely criticized. The United States now wants a larger army and a larger navy to compete with near-equal rivals such as China.
Israel has invested heavily in network-based warfare, using artificial intelligence to integrate units equipped with new technologies. This seemed to be a new kind of war with mobility and death while reducing the number of mistakes. However, the war in Gaza has shown limitations. When the casualties of wars are supposed to be almost zero, mistakes are made and a decisive victory is not achieved. In addition, there is no deterrent to the next round. Israel has publicly stated that it is engaged in a “war between wars” in Syria and that there are about 2,000 anti-Iranian airstrikes. But this approach does not solve the problem forever.
