Day: July 20, 2026

Russia is firing missiles faster than its factories build them. In 19 days of July, it launched 20 Zircons out of the 30 it is expected to produce in all of 2026.

It spent two-thirds of the year’s planned Zircon output already, drawing on its reserve — United24. 1/

— @Mylovanov Jul 20, 2026

🇮🇷🇺🇸 Instead of trying to shoot U.S. aircraft out of the sky, Iran is taking away the runways.

There’s a name for it now: debasification. And by the numbers, it’s working.

Prewar, the U.S. could run operations against Iran from roughly 20 airbases. Strip out Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi and Jordan and you’re down to about five.

Hundreds of airframes compressed onto a handful of tarmacs, with less time between launch detection and impact than it takes to get them airborne. More planes parked, more hits.

Jordan was supposed to be the fallback. Per NYT reporting, 4 Iranian strikes there in a week produced casualties and aircraft losses, including personnel killed at Muwaffaq Salti. Interception rates in the footage look nothing like the official ones.

And the retreat carries its own penalty. Pull back to Israel and every tanker now flies a thousand-plus miles to reach Iran’s border. More when carrier aircraft are launching from 1,700 miles out in the Arabian Sea.

No tankers, no loiter time. No loiter time, no suppressing Iranian air defenses. No suppression, no cheap bombs. And the cruise missile stocks are already thin.

The one lever left is accepting losses the U.S. hasn’t accepted in a generation. Is Washington willing to pull it?

Source: Amerikanets on Substack / Writer: Oliver

— @MarioNawfal Jul 20, 2026